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Chicago Urban Tree Canopy Study



Client


The City of Chicago, IL, Department of Environment





Goal

  • Provide the client with a report on the existing, possible and potential Urban Tree Canopy (UTC) in Chicago, IL that supports the goals outlined in the 2009 Urban Forest Agenda.
  • Integrate multiple GIS datasets, both provided by the client and generated by RFP Mapping LLC, covering Chicago's 230-square-mile jurisdiction.
  • Create a detailed report, including illustrations, graphs, tables, and narratives.
Conduct a separate UTC assessment for each of five target geographies, including parcels, wards, public right of way, zones and cemeteries.

Process and Products

For the Chicago UTC assessment project, RFP Mapping worked with Aaron N. Durnbaugh, Deputy Commissioner, Natural Resources and Water Quality Division, Chicago Department of Environment.

We cooperatively determined which GIS layers, in addition to RFP Mapping LLC's 7-class would be used to arrive at an accurate final product. These included street centerlines, parcel boundaries, rail lines, zoning, cemeteries, public right of way, ward boundaries, and others. We also worked together to determine which target geographies would be most useful in helping Chicago reach its tree canopy goals. 

For more information on the UTC process, please see our page here.


Sample showing existing UTC and two classes of potential planting sites for a Chicago residential area.

The project was conducted in three phases:
  1. Determine city-wide existing and possible canopy
  2. Utilize ancillary GIS data to determine potential planting sites, apply this data and data from phase 1 to each of the five target geographies
  3. Based on two canopy size classes (small and medium), determine the maximum number of trees plantable within each of the target geographies
Upon completion of these three phases, a final report was generated and delivered to the client. Reported information included discrete data on existing, possible and potential canopy for each of the five target geographies, as well as comparative analysis between and within target geographies.