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Data-Driven Urban Tree Planting and Shade Infrastructure Program

Solution Overview

Phoenix has developed a comprehensive street tree planting and shade infrastructure program that leverages geographic information systems and data-driven prioritization to combat extreme urban heat.[1][6] The initiative strategically targets high-pedestrian corridors and vulnerable neighborhoods through the Cool Corridors program, which aims to establish 100 designated segments by 2030.[1][5] This approach combines urban forestry investments with built shade structures to create a network of thermally comfortable pathways for pedestrians, bicyclists, and transit users across the city's districts.[6]

Technical Components

City staff and researchers developed a ranking system using four variables to identify optimal tree planting locations: neighborhood heat vulnerability, transit dependency, pedestrian use, and existing shade coverage with temperature measurements.[6] Cool Corridors are defined as one-quarter to half-mile segments, walkways, or trails adjacent to arterial streets designed to provide relief from high temperatures.[6] The Street Transportation Department implements the Right Tree, Right Place framework, planting desert-adapted, low water-use species including Mulga, Ghost Gum, Southern Live Oak, Chinese Elm, and Blue Palo Verde.[6] American Forests provided forestry expertise to select native tree species with greatest potential for long-term survival in a changing climate while maximizing shade benefits.[7] Phoenix further increases cooling impact using techniques that reflect solar heat, such as cool paving materials.[7] The Heat Vulnerability Map and Cooling Solutions Webtool provides heat data across site, neighborhood, city, and regional scales, along with vulnerability data for each census tract in Maricopa County.[8] ASU's Decision Theater created the map interface for this analytical tool.[8]

Implementation Details

The Street Transportation Department implemented the Cool Corridors program in 2022 with approval of $1.4 million to plant up to 200 trees per mile, totaling 1,800 new trees across project areas citywide.[6] The 2025 budget added funding for 1,800 more trees to plant in nine cool corridors, with nine additional corridors planned each year.[5] The Shade Phoenix Plan commits $50 million in local, federal, and private funds over five years to accelerate shade creation and maintenance.[3] Phoenix's heat office estimated costs of $17 million for new trees, $15 million for maintenance, $18 million for new built shade, and $2 million for workforce development and programming.[3] The plan will result in 25,000 new trees and 500 new shade structures, with approximately half going to low- and moderate-income neighborhoods and most of the remainder to middle-income sections.[3][4] Much of the federal funding allocated requires spending in low-income areas.[3] The city is pursuing a large grant from the $1.5 billion dedicated to urban forestry in the Inflation Reduction Act to scale the Tree Equity work.[7] Corporate partners including Microsoft, American Express, Salesforce, Bank of America, Aspiration, and iHeartMedia have leveraged significant public funds from the city and other philanthropic dollars secured by American Forests.[7] More than 50 organizations formed a Phoenix Metro Urban Forestry Roundtable, uniting diverse actors from the Mayor's office to local neighborhood organizations to set goals together and partner on every aspect of the work.[7] The department's program is supported by continuous research, prioritization, and assessment through a partnership with Arizona State University and other partners.[6]

Benefits and Impacts

As part of one project, 259 drought-resistant, arid-adapted trees were planted along a corridor to create shade and resilience.[9] The city chose the Baseline Road corridor based on American Forests' tree equity tool, which ranked the Laveen-area tract's shade 677th out of 965 census block groups, with existing canopy covering only 5% of the area.[5] When trees planted in this location reach maturity, they may shade up to half of the sidewalk area, according to the city's heat response officer.[5] American Forests' interactive tool allows users to click on and learn about any neighborhood's shade coverage and rankings.[5] A study quantified shade coverage on sidewalks in Phoenix and Tempe to identify neighborhoods not meeting the minimum 20% shade coverage recommendation outlined in the Maricopa Association of Government's Active Transportation Plan.[1] Only 8% of all sidewalks in the Phoenix-Tempe metropolitan area met the recommended minimum of 20% shade coverage at all times during a typical summer day.[1] The program explicitly focuses on the city's most vulnerable residents and places where people are outside the most.[3] Phoenix used American Forests' Tree Equity Score as a foundational tool for setting its Tree Equity goal and for prioritizing where to increase tree planting and tree care.[7] American Forests is building a Tree Equity Score Analyzer tool for Phoenix to provide actionable data down to the granular level of individual properties.[7]

Climate Adaptation Relevance

The summer of 2020 was the hottest on record for Phoenix, with 53 days reaching 110°F or higher and an unprecedented number of heat-related deaths.[2] The Phoenix City Council passed a motion in 2018 to address urban heat, which led to the formation of the Urban Heat Island/Tree and Shade Subcommittee as part of the Environmental Quality and Sustainability Commission.[2] The city's Office of Heat Response and Mitigation, which launched in October 2021, inherited a largely ignored 2010 shade plan and was tasked with overhauling it.[3]

Business Analysis

Phoenix aims to invest in street trees to reach 25% tree canopy coverage by 2030, becoming the first city to pledge Tree Equity with particular focus on increasing canopy in economically disadvantaged communities.[1] Phoenix is currently working toward achieving Tree Equity by 2030, making it the first city in the United States to set this public goal.[7] The city strategically mapped out and focused investment on 100 cool corridors that align with high pedestrian use and low tree canopy.[7] The Shade Phoenix Plan, first aired before City Council in early June, could be formally adopted before the end of the year and includes 37 specific actions aimed at 13 strategic priorities.[4] Those priorities were developed by 26 city departments and agencies and include input from some 2,000 residents who commented and made suggestions through meetings, online surveys, and other outreach efforts.[4] Heat Director Dave Hondula planned to present the final proposal to City Council in the fall.[3] The city Office of Heat Migration asked all 15 village planning committees to weigh in by September 30 on the plan to spend $50 million over five years to increase shade.[4] The new plan calls for a citywide shade inventory and re-establishment of a cross-departmental team meant to advance the plan, two components of the 2010 plan that fizzled out.[3] The city should include a significant allocation for the Cool Corridors program in future General Obligation Bond programs presented to voters, framed as a critical investment in public health, safety, and infrastructure resilience.[2] The Heat Vulnerability Map tool can be included in federal grant applications to demonstrate how projects ensure Justice40 requirements by investing in marginalized areas to benefit underrepresented groups.[8] Phoenix's heat office aims to increase shade on city-owned property such as bus stops and parks, but city-owned land only accounts for approximately 8% of Phoenix, requiring private property owner engagement for significant progress.[3]

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