Current and potential urban canopy cover: a comparative study across 10 European cities using i-tree canopy

This Master’s thesis is a comparative study on current and potential canopy cover among 10 European cities utilizing i-tree Canopy. The measurement of tree canopy cover in urban areas is a convenient and cost-effective way to assess the extent of greenery. This metric not only reveals the amount of coverage within a specific area, but also offers valuable information about the potential benefits that an urban forest can provide to improve the quality of life of cities and its residents. A random selection was done to choose the cities according to the following parameters: one city/European country, inhabitants ranging between 100,000 to 400,000/urban core, and a balanced dispersal of cities across the European continent. i-Tree Canopy enables random point sampling and is used to determine whether a point is a tree, non-tree, or a potential tree cover area. The software yields value estimates for canopy ecosystem services such as carbon, air pollution, and hydrological benefits. These values are then comparable across cities and to socio-economic variables to study the connections and draw out conclusions.