Photo: Mike Wilkinson/Nature Conservancy
Louisville, Kentucky, in the heart of coal country, has become something of a leader in data-driven urban tree innovation over the past decade. The $15 million Green Heart Louisville project, which followed more than 700 residents across a four-square-mile area of south Louisville where 8,000 trees and shrubs had been planted, showed they had 13% to 20% lower levels of a blood marker of general inflammation compared to neighborhoods where no new trees were added. Starting in November, the University of Louisville’s Urban Design Studio will plant more than 100 large trees on Founders Square to create a “microforest”. If the team can show that it lowers stress levels and ambient temperatures, it could catalyze further greening in the area, drawing more people and businesses downtown.
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