Poor Amsterdam districts don't benefit from city's shady trees

The cooling shade of trees is unevenly distributed across cities worldwide, including Amsterdam. People in poorer neighborhoods, in particular, have less shade and struggle more with heat, according to scientific research focusing on pedestrians in nine global cities. The Amsterdam part of the study was conducted by the AMS Institute, the Amsterdam-based institute for urban research, Parool reports.

Previous studies have shown that low-income households struggle more under the increasingly hot days caused by climate change. They live in smaller homes that are often not well insulated, have less air conditioning, and spend more time outdoors. This study by an international group of researchers now adds that less affluent neighborhoods and those located further from the city center also have sidewalks that are less well protected by shade. That is also true for Amsterdam.

The researchers used datasets on urban development to map the extent to which pedestrian routes are protected by the shade of buildings and trees. “Instead of asking where the cities are cooler on average, we look at who feels well-protected from the sun, precisely in place swhere people walk, wait, and move during the hottest hours of the day,” said researcher Lukas Beuster, who works at the AMS Institute on behalf of Delft University of Technology and the American MIT.

According to the researchers, the disparities between poorer and richer neighborhoods reflect a long history of urban planning decisions that favored the richer areas. "While cities are often seen as green and climate-resilient, neighborhoods and districts located far from the city center, where more low-income residents live, are less well protected from the sun," said researchers Xinye Gu from Wageningen University & Research and the AMS Institute.

“Without insight or targeted policy, this inequality will persist, even in cities that consider themselves progressive, green, or well-adapted ot climate change,” said Eveline van Leeuwen, scientific director of the AMS Institute.

The researchers believe that shade should be considered a vital infrastructure for life in large cities, comparable to public transportation, safe drinking water, and clean air.