Can you see green? Assessing the visibility of urban forests in cities

Abstract

The Green View index was developed to evaluate the visibility of urban forests. It was estimated through a combination of field surveys and photography interpretation and tested in Berkeley, California. The results showed that the overall Green View value in Berkeley was 24.79%. It has a strong correlation (R2 = 0.86) with the canopy cover of tree/shrubs, which was 31.49%. Besides the absolute amount of canopy cover, Green View is also influenced by the distribution pattern of trees. The ANOVA analysis indicated that the size of trees, the distance between trees and viewers, the existence of vegetation other than trees and shrubs all had a significant impact on values of Green View. The study shows that the use of large-size trees is important for creating a view with more greenery in a city. Green View can be used to evaluate the visual impact of various planning and management practices on urban forests. © 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.