How Green Is Your City? In Paris, the Answer Is Not Green Enough
At the top of the Eiffel Tower on a summer’s day, there’s a perfect view of the Champ de Mars, one of France’s most popular parks. For miles across the city, trees appear to fill the streets.
But the view might be deceiving. According to a new algorithm measuring the percentage of urban trees seen from a pedestrian’s perspective, Paris ranks poorly. The algorithm, known as Treepedia, was launched in 2016 by Senseable Cities Laboratory, a research group in MIT’s Department of Urban Studies and Planning, in collaboration with the World Economic Forum. It uses footage from Google Street View to evaluate and compare green canopy cover; the median generated is known as the Green View Index. Among the highest of the 27 cities currently measured are Tampa (36.1%), Singapore (29.3%) and Oslo (28.8%)
Paris, with a score of just 8.8%, is on the other end of the scale — unfairly, according to the city’s deputy mayor Penelope Komites. She says the project does not best represent the city because..