{"id":6561,"date":"2025-08-18T14:35:21","date_gmt":"2025-08-18T18:35:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/urban\/?page_id=6561"},"modified":"2025-11-25T12:29:48","modified_gmt":"2025-11-25T17:29:48","slug":"tigges-speak-for-the-trees","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/urban\/tigges-speak-for-the-trees\/","title":{"rendered":"Mapping Trees and Their Public Health Benefits in Boston, MA"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t<ul class=\"profile-listing profile-format-advanced\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\n<li class=\"profile-item profile-item-advanced has-title post-4493 profile type-profile status-publish hentry\">\n\t<a href=\"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/urban\/profile\/sophia-tigges\/\" class=\"profile-link profile-link-advanced\">\n\t\t<figure class=\"profile-photo profile-photo-advanced\">\n\t\t\t<img width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"\/urban\/files\/2022\/09\/Tigges_headshot-Sophia-Tigges-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"Sophia Tigges headshot\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/urban\/files\/2022\/09\/Tigges_headshot-Sophia-Tigges-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/urban\/files\/2022\/09\/Tigges_headshot-Sophia-Tigges-100x100.jpg 100w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/>\t\t<\/figure>\n\n\t\t<h6 class=\"profile-name profile-name-advanced\">Sophia Tigges<\/h6>\n\t\t<p class=\"profile-title profile-title-advanced\">Earth &#038; Environment<\/p>\t<\/a>\n\n\t\n<\/li>\n\t\t\t<\/ul>\n\n<p><strong>Project Partner:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/treeboston.org\/\">Speak for the Trees<\/a>, Summer 2025<\/p>\n<p><strong>Project Summary: <\/strong>In a city, trees improve air quality, cool their surroundings, and boost mental health. However, trees are not distributed evenly throughout urban areas like Boston. This uneven distribution of city trees, or \u201ctree inequity,\u201d is rooted in existing injustices related to race, income, language isolation, and other social factors. As a result, Boston\u2019s communities do not have equal access to the public health benefits that trees provide.<\/p>\n<p>Sophia worked with Speak for the Trees on three projects that address the public health impacts of tree inequity. First, Sophia augmented the decision-making tool that the non-profit uses to visualize possible tree planting sites. They added information about environmental justice, urban heat, and public transportation to the tool, which will be used to prioritize planting in areas that lack shade trees. Second, Sophia began mapping the relationship between tree canopy coverage and public health. This project examines whether Boston\u2019s trees significantly improve air quality, urban heat, and mental health, thus illustrating the impacts of tree inequity on community wellbeing. Third, Sophia started analyzing the history of tree inequity by mapping Boston\u2019s canopy coverage in historical aerial photographs. Together, these three projects will guide the non-profit\u2019s efforts to plant trees and to advocate for tree equity in Boston.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_6562\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-6562\" style=\"width: 646px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/urban\/files\/2025\/08\/tree-planting-sites-636x477.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"636\" height=\"477\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-6562\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/urban\/files\/2025\/08\/tree-planting-sites-636x477.png 636w, https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/urban\/files\/2025\/08\/tree-planting-sites-1024x768.png 1024w, https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/urban\/files\/2025\/08\/tree-planting-sites-768x576.png 768w, https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/urban\/files\/2025\/08\/tree-planting-sites.png 1051w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 636px) 100vw, 636px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-6562\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">An example of the internal decision-making tool. The blue areas highlight potential sites for tree planting.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"attachment_6563\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-6563\" style=\"width: 646px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/urban\/files\/2025\/08\/historical-comparison-636x582.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"636\" height=\"582\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-6563\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/urban\/files\/2025\/08\/historical-comparison-636x582.png 636w, https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/urban\/files\/2025\/08\/historical-comparison-1024x937.png 1024w, https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/urban\/files\/2025\/08\/historical-comparison-768x703.png 768w, https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/urban\/files\/2025\/08\/historical-comparison.png 1142w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 636px) 100vw, 636px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-6563\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">A comparison between a historical aerial photograph of Boston from 1938 and one from the present day.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Watch Sophia&#8217;s URBAN Internship Lightning Talk <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/zF4OqO8Akas\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Project Partner: Speak for the Trees, Summer 2025 Project Summary: In a city, trees improve air quality, cool their surroundings, and boost mental health. However, trees are not distributed evenly throughout urban areas like Boston. This uneven distribution of city trees, or \u201ctree inequity,\u201d is rooted in existing injustices related to race, income, language isolation, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24039,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":6,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/urban\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6561"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/urban\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/urban\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/urban\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24039"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/urban\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6561"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/urban\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6561\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6564,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/urban\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6561\/revisions\/6564"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/urban\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6561"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}