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Motivations & Mechanisms for Neighborhood Tree Planting
Evaluating Ecological & Social Outcomes of Neighborhood & Nonprofit Urban Forestry

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Project Personnel

LUFA Personnel: Jess Vogt 
Former students: Greg Skora, Nick Olson
Additional Collaborators: members of the Bloomington Urban Forestry Research Group (BUFRG; a research group at Indiana University with whom Jess worked during graduate school and after, and who initiated the "Ecological & Social Outcomes of Neighborhood Tree Planting" project from which this project is derived)

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Project Description

          Neighborhoods and nonprofit organizations might engage in urban greening activities such as tree planting to improve the environmental quality of their neighborhood. During summer 2014, as part of a project of the Bloomington Urban Forestry Research Group (BUFRG) to evaluate neighborhood tree planting, nearly 100 semi-structured interviews with neighborhood leaders in tree-planting and non-tree-planting neighborhoods in 5 U.S. cities were conducted. Currently, we are analyzing these interviews to look for social impacts of tree planting, and investigate the motivations and mechanisms for these tree plantings. We are transforming the qualitative interview transcripts into quantitative, empirical data crucial to answering the following questions:

1. What are the motivations for neighborhood engagement in tree planting?
2. What strategies and mechanisms do neighborhoods use to organize to plant and maintain trees?
3. How do social processes (i.e., collective activities, community cohesion, trust, etc.) in tree-planting neighborhoods compare to those of non-tree-planting (comparison) neighborhoods? 

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Products, Presentations, & Publications

Most recent listed first. Titles link to full text or slides via ResearchGate where available.

Skora G, Vogt J (2016) Motivations and mechanisms of neighborhood tree planting. DePaul University 14th Annual Natural Sciences, Mathematics, and Technology Undergraduate Research Showcase. November 4, 2016, DePaul University, Chicago, Illinois, United States. (Poster presentation by G Skora)

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Funding & Support

External Funding:

• Original funding for collection or interviews was provided primarily from the U.S. Forest Service National Urban and Community Forestry Advisory Council (NUCFAC) through the Bloomington Urban Forestry Research Group (BUFRG); for complete funding details see the BUFRG project page.

Internal Funding:

• ​DePaul University College of Science and Health Undergraduate Research Assistantship Program (URAP) -  P.I.: Jess Vogt; Student: Greg Skora: $1,575 (2017)
• ​DePaul University College of Science and Health Undergraduate Research Assistantship Program (URAP) -  P.I.: Jess Vogt; Student: Greg Skora: $1,500 (2016)
• DePaul University College of Science and Health Research and Faculty Development Committee Faculty Summer Research Program (FSRP) - P.I.: Jess Vogt: $4,200 (2016)