Stoss worked with a multidisciplinary team including City Plants, CAPA Strategies, TreePeople, the City's Chief Forestry Officer, as well as representatives from the Bureau of Street Services and other city departments to help produce an Urban Forest Equity Streets Guidebook for the City of Los Angeles.

The team’s research delves into the history of redlining and links disparities in tree cover with the long-term impacts of disinvestment and racial segregation. Working from case studies on ten streets (selected from across the city, and within some of the most socially vulnerable and those facing intense heat challenges, with a focus on South LA, East LA and the Northeast SF Valley to demonstrate varying conditions) the guidebook identifies challenges to implementation, potential trade-offs, and proposed improvements at multiple tiers of investment.

The guidebook breaks down improvements into 3 tiers. At tier 1, the team identifies opportunities that can be implemented with minimal cost and infrastructural change. For example, in Los Angeles available open parkways and private property were identified and solutions for easy low-cost planting presented. Yet, the reality is that even if all tier 1 sites were planted, the city would not achieve its’ stated goal of achieving 50% canopy coverage. Thus, the team proposed tier 2 interventions requiring more change and associated costs, and ultimately tier 3 solutions which involved new infrastructure like curb extensions and creating bike lanes and medians that would also help to calm traffic and filter stormwater run-off.

FUNDERS

Accelerate Resilience LA
LA Center for Urban Natural Resources Sustainability

location

Los Angeles, CA

TEAM

Dr. Vivek Shandas
CAPA Strategies
Cindy Chen
TreePeople
City Plants
California Climate Action Corps.
LA Urban Urban Forest Equity Collective