Project Canopy
Can cities cool themselves by planting smarter?
Put the next tree where it does the most work — for heat, for flooding and for air.
ResearchThe problem
Urban tree planting is counted in numbers planted, not in degrees cooled or litres absorbed. The same budget spent in a different street produces a different city.
What we built
Put the next tree where it does the most work — for heat, for flooding and for air.
Where it is now
Research — testing whether public heat and canopy data is good enough to rank streets honestly.
Research questions
- Can cities cool themselves by planting smarter?
Future concepts
Research only. These are not existing features.
Who it's for
Components
Research question
“Can cities cool themselves by planting smarter?”
Why this matters
Urban tree planting is counted in numbers planted, not in degrees cooled or litres absorbed. The same budget spent in a different street produces a different city.
Current progress
Research — testing whether public heat and canopy data is good enough to rank streets honestly.
Workflow
Research
Researching: urban trees, cooling, shade, flood prevention, air quality.
How it could work
Problem
Cities are hot in exactly the places with the fewest trees.
Current world
Planting targets counted at planting, and rarely counted again.
Quinn Labs idea
Rank every candidate site by the cooling, shade and drainage it would actually deliver.
Potential future
Urban forests planned as infrastructure, with performance measured.
Research board
Counted at planting
Survival at five years is the number that matters and the one nobody publishes.
Open questions
Whose street?
The hottest streets are usually the poorest. Does a ranking make that visible, or does it get overruled?
Future possibilities
Research directions only. None of these exist, and some never will.
Questions we're asking
- Can cities cool themselves by planting smarter?
- Heat mapping joined to planting decisions
- Species chosen for shade and drought, not for tidiness
- Root systems designed as drainage infrastructure
Potential collaborators
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