UNT Researchers Study Equity of Digital Tools for Urban Forest Management

Trees provide many benefits. They filter pollution, provide shade, and beautify spaces. Researchers at the University of North Texas are partners in a study looking at how technology can make those benefits more equitable across communities.

"I have been studying trees for a very long time," UNT Geography Professor Alexandra Ponette-Gonzalez said. "At a really basic level, it's a magical spot for me."

Ponette-Gonzalez's primary field of study is in the environmental impact of trees filtering out pollutants. That is just part of what researchers at UNT, Texas Christian University, and Texas State University are studying along with their research partners at Cleveland State University in Ohio and the University of Oregon.

"What trees do you want? Do you want trees...where do you want trees," Ponette-Gonzalez said are among the questions researchers will be asking. "We're all living within that urban forest."

Through a 5-year, $1.5 million dollar grant from the National Science Foundation, researchers will study the influence of open source technology tools like i-Tree, which is used by cities including Denton, on urban forest planning and management.

"We want to know if those digital tools not only improve people's access to trees but if they actually include people in the planning process," Ponette-Gonzalez said. "So the idea being that equity is not just, 'do (you) have access to trees,' but when we go to a park, are those the trees that I would have chosen to be there?"

Ponette-Gonzalez says digital tools can also work through a filter, pointing out GPS navigation maps usually suggest the fastest route, rather than a route based on some other criteria.

"There's a chance to adapt, and change, and modify all of these tools and technologies," Ponette-Gonzalez said. "So that they can better serve our communities."