Estimating satisfaction levels for a city's vegetation

Abstract

A need in urban forestry planning is to learn whether neighborhood populations are satisfied with existing vegetation configurations and how people might react to planned changes. This knowledge would help to evaluate neighborhood plans and justify city program expenditures. An exponential model for estimating popular satisfaction rates is provided that generates an expected rate for any tree stocking level in a neighborhood's land uses. Estimated satisfaction rates for 67 of Dayton, Ohio's 79 neighborhoods are obtained, and these indicate that rates as low as 56 percent of a neighborhood's population and as high as 87% can be expected for Dayton's urban vegetation configuration. These results tend to match expectations insofar as neighborhood-based attitudes are currently understood. Suggestions for improving the model are offered, but these are tempered against the strong constraints of available knowledge of neighborhood vegetation and popular attitudes toward this visual resource.