EQUITY-BASED URBAN FORESTRY INITIATIVE THAT COOLS THE CITY

Beneath the reputation of Los Angeles as a land of automobiles, palm trees, and sunshine lies a reality of stark inequalities—including access to trees and shade. Nearly 20% of LA’s urban forest is concentrated where only 1% of the city’s population lives, endangering lower-income communities and people of color with hotter summers and poor environmental quality.

The LA Urban Forest Equity Collective (“Collective”) is a consortium of forestry experts, LA City staff, community-based organizations, and researchers that creates strategies to advance urban forest initiatives in the city’s hardest-hit and most socially vulnerable neighborhoods. After leveraging co-production of knowledge, partnering with communities and the City of LA to guide priorities, and identifying pathways from research to implementation, the Collective created a framework for incremental and dramatic improvements that are intended to be replicable throughout and beyond Los Angeles. It provides practical tools to prioritize and plan for the increased presence of trees and shades in urban areas, especially along oversized streets, and offers decision-making support, community engagement strategies, and evocative renderings for LA neighborhoods demonstrating powerful yet achievable visions for a greener future.

Stoss incorporated community feedback to develop site-specific designs, which they shared with the UFEC community engagement team for several rounds of review and revision. Four street sections, two in Sylmar and two in Central Alameda, speak to community concerns and provide the opportunity to demonstrate multiple types of urban forestry applications, from minimal proposals that work with existing roadway alignments to transformative proposals that re-imagine the entire right-of-way. All look to increase shade, decrease heat, improve stormwater infiltration, increase biodiversity, and improve the visual and experiential quality of these neighborhoods.

client

City Plants & City of Los Angeles

location

Los Angeles, CA

TEAM

Stoss City Plants
LA Office of Forest Management
LA Bureau of Street Services 
LA Bureau of Sanitation & Environment 
LA Department of Public Works 
LA Department of Water and Power
LA Department of Recreation & Parks 
University of California Los Angeles 
University of Southern California Urban Trees Initiative 
TreePeople 
North East Trees 
South LA Tree Coalition 
California Climate Action Corps
CAPA Strategies