Future Trees: Pre-adapting the Urban Forest

This in-progress foresight project is developing a global geospatial tool that links three datasets: observed urban tree species; projected climate classification shifts affecting temperature and precipitation; and survivability data for each species.  The web-based tool allows designers or urban foresters to select an urban site anywhere in the world, see future climate shifts in that area to 2100, and choose from a list of tree species that are adapted to the new climate regime.  The tool, first of its kind, will help ensure that the species selected today will thrive tomorrow.  Its use can greatly enhance urban tree cover in the face of a rapidly changing climate, providing communities with critical adaptations to increased heat for generations to come.  The tool can be used in urban forestry, streetscape master plans, green infrastructure planning, or landscape architecture projects in order to aid climate adaptation.  The project extends SWA’s research on climate change and nature-based solutions (NbS) .