i-Tree Canopy-based Decision Support Method for Establishing Climate Change Adaptive Urban Forests

기후변화적응형 도시림 조성을 위한 i-Tree Canopy 기반 의사결정지원 방안

The accelerated pace of climate crisis due to continuous industrialization and greenhouse gas emissions necessitates sustainable solutions that simultaneously address mitigation and adaptation to climate change. Naturebased Solutions (NbS) have gained prominence as viable approaches, with Green Infrastructure being a representative NbS. Green Infrastructure involves securing green spaces within urban areas, providing diverse climate adaptation functions such as removal of various air pollutants, carbon sequestration, and isolation. The proliferation of Green Infrastructure is influenced by the quantification of improvement effects related to various projects. To support decision-making by assessing the climate vulnerability of Green Infrastructure, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has developed i-Tree Tools. This study proposes a comprehensive evaluation approach for climate change adaptation types by quantifying the climate adaptation performance of urban Green Infrastructure. Using i-Tree Canopy, the analysis focuses on five urban green spaces covering more than 30 hectares, considering the tree ratio relative to the total area. The evaluation encompasses aspects of thermal environment, aquatic environment, and atmospheric environment to assess the overall eco-friendliness in terms of climate change adaptation. The results indicate that an increase in the tree ratio correlates with improved eco-friendliness in terms of thermal, aquatic, and atmospheric environments. In particular, it is necessary to prioritize consideration of the water environment sector in order to realize climate change adaptive green infrastructure, such as increasing green space in urban areas, as it has been confirmed that four out of five target sites are specialized in improving the water environment.