Areas of high tree canopy cover, especially connected tree canopy cover, provide habitat to support biodiversity and cooling to ameliorate the urban heat island effect. However, the nature-based solutions provided by trees are not distributed equally; land use contributes to this systematic inequality because the places where it is easiest to plant trees are often not where trees are needed most. To better understand the gaps and opportunities for tree planting across the urban landscape, we examine the distribution of tree canopy cover and connectivity by land use in 10 U.S. cities. We find that parks have the greatest tree canopy coverage followed by single-family residential areas, multi-family residential areas, and industrial land uses. On average, single-family neighborhoods had 8.5 % points more tree canopy coverage than multi-family neighborhoods, with gaps as high as 18.6 % points. Looking at the size of connected tree canopy, we find that residential land uses are home to more small contiguous tree canopy patches (>1 ha in area), while parks have more large contiguous tree canopy (>12 ha in area). We compare the contiguous tree canopy findings to tree planting policy in each city to examine the influence of intentional planning for tree connectivity, and close with policy-oriented implications of our results. Namely, we suggest: 1) closing the gap between single-family and multi-family tree canopy cover, 2) factoring connectivity into tree planting and preservation, and 3) taking a context-specific approach to increase tree cover in industrial areas in order to more equitably distribute the climate, ecological, and health benefits of trees.

中文翻译：

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弥合土地利用差距：按土地利用检查美国 10 个城市的树冠覆盖率和连通性


高树冠覆盖的区域，尤其是相连的树冠覆盖，为支持生物多样性和降温提供了栖息地，从而缓解了城市热岛效应。然而，树木提供的基于自然的解决方案并不是平均分配的;土地利用导致了这种系统性的不平等，因为最容易植树的地方往往不是最需要树木的地方。为了更好地了解城市景观中植树的差距和机会，我们研究了美国 10 个城市按土地利用划分的树冠覆盖率和连通性分布。我们发现，公园的树冠覆盖率最高，其次是单户住宅区、多户住宅区和工业用地。平均而言，单户住宅社区的树冠覆盖率比多户住宅社区高 8.5 个百分点，差距高达 18.6 个百分点。从相连树冠的大小来看，我们发现住宅用地上有更多的小的连续树冠（x3E1公顷），而公园有更多的大型连续树冠（x3E12公顷）。我们将连续的树冠调查结果与每个城市的植树政策进行比较，以检查有意识规划对树木连通性的影响，并以我们结果的政策导向影响结束。即，我们建议：1） 缩小单户和多户树冠覆盖之间的差距，2） 在植树和保护中考虑连通性，以及 3） 采取针对具体环境的方法增加工业区的树木覆盖率，以便更公平地分配树木的气候、生态和健康益处。