with Stoss Landscape Urbanism

Equity-Based Urban Forestry Initiative that Cools the City

Beneath Los Angeles’ image as a sun-soaked city of palm trees and cars lies a reality of stark environmental inequalities—particularly in access to trees and shade. Nearly 20% of the city’s urban forest is concentrated in areas where only 1% of the population lives, leaving lower-income communities and people of color vulnerable to hotter summers and poor air quality.

The LA Urban Forest Equity Collective (Collective) is a coalition of forestry experts, City of LA staff, community organizations, and researchers committed to addressing these disparities by advancing urban forestry initiatives in the city’s most socially vulnerable neighborhoods. Through a co-production model that involves local communities and city officials, the Collective has developed strategies to guide priorities and implementation, creating a replicable framework for enhancing urban forests. This framework provides practical tools to prioritize tree planting and shade creation, particularly in underserved areas along wide streets. It also offers decision-making support, community engagement strategies, and inspiring visual renderings that demonstrate achievable, greener futures for LA neighborhoods.

My role in the initiative was to integrate community feedback into site-specific designs. I collaborated with the Urban Forestry Equity Collective (UFEC) engagement team, refining designs over multiple rounds based on input from the community. The project focused on four street sections—two in Sylmar and two in Central Alameda—that reflected the diverse concerns of local residents. These designs explored a range of urban forestry applications, from low-impact proposals that work with existing street alignments to more transformative ideas that reimagine entire right-of-ways. The goal was to increase tree canopy, reduce heat, improve stormwater management, enhance biodiversity, and elevate the visual and experiential quality of these neighborhoods.