Planting with Purpose: Building Climate Resilience Through Community Trees
A data-driven, community-focused initiative to grow Pittsburgh’s urban canopy, improve climate resilience, and invest in neighborhoods most at risk.
Pittsburgh, PA – Beginning in 2023, the City of Pittsburgh partnered with Resilient Cities Catalyst, Tree Pittsburgh, Western Pennsylvania Conservancy, and UrbanKind Institute to develop a data-driven, replicable approach for urban forest management that advances the city’s Climate Action Plan Urban Canopy goals. The project was funded by a grant from Google.org via ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability. ICLEI is an international organization that supports climate-oriented urban development. This grant was a part of their Action Fund to foster data-driven environmental and climate action at the local level in partnership with Google.org.
This project was a collaboration between multiple City departments including the Department of City Planning (DCP), Department of Public Works Forestry Division (Forestry), Department of Mobility and Infrastructure (DOMI), Department of Innovation & Performance (I&P).
The interdepartmental team sought to focus Pittsburgh’s urban canopy investments such that we could achieve multiple co-benefits, preparing climate-vulnerable neighborhoods to manage risk while offsetting carbon emissions and reducing energy consumption. As part of the project, the City acquired best-in-class data sets, including climate risk data from First Street Foundation, which was used to help target planting efforts towards areas where trees will provide the greatest climate resilience benefits to residents.
Each planting was preceded by sidewalk repairs and replacements to ensure each tree would have sufficient space to grow and thrive. These new trees will work to improve air quality, reduce the urban heat island effect, absorb stormwater, and reduce cooling costs for residents living in these three communities.
The City plans to institutionalize this collaboration to use data to identify all the communities most in need of additional tree canopy to improve their resiliency as we continue to face the effects of a changing climate. The methodology prioritizes investments in the urban canopy that prioritize climate risks and environmental justice.
Over the course of two years, the project team completed two (2) tree plantings for a total of 50 new trees in Beltzhoover along Estella Ave. and Climax St., two (2) tree plantings for a total of 47 new trees in Hazelwood along Courtland St. and Blair St., and one upcoming (1) tree planting with a total of 21 new trees in Homewood along Hamilton Ave.
In total, this funding will have supported five (5) tree planting events and several tree adoption events, both of which serve as opportunities to plant trees and speak with residents about climate risks, urban canopy benefits, and how they can work with the City and other partners to improve their neighborhoods.
This current source of funding is wrapping up with a final tree planting in the Homewood neighborhood on October 9th, 2025. The final planting event is in partnership with DOMI’s Critical Sidewalk Gaps Program that replaced and installed new sidewalks along Hamilton Avenue between Oakwood and Collier Streets. Each new section of sidewalk includes a tree pit that will be the final home for the trees planted on October 9th. The
addition of trees to this new streetscape design will improve traffic calming and provide shade for pedestrians that travel through this corridor.
Using detailed property-level climate risk data and ecosystem benefits calculations to develop a new community and neighborhood forestry methodology and creating the connections necessary for sustained commitment to data-informed urban canopy investments were major goals to ensure the project’s outcomes and learnings would be formalized well beyond the end of the project period.
This process will be institutionalized through a Tree Equity Working Group to strategically increase the urban tree canopy in our most heat-risk communities, with an emphasis on communities of color. The trees we plant will provide shade, air pollution reduction, and storm water management to the neighboring residents for generations to come.
We want to thank the following community partners for their contributions to this work:
· CONNECT: The Congress of Neighboring Communities
· FroGang Foundation
· Hazelwood Initiative
· Homewood Promise Center
· Tree Pittsburgh
· UrbanKind Institute
· Western Pennsylvania Conservancy
Get Involved
Join the City of Pittsburgh and Tree Pittsburgh in a community tree planting event on October 9th, 2025 from 9:30am – 1:30pm in Homewood on Hamilton Avenue. We will plant 21 large balled and burlapped trees along the street on Hamilton Avenue. Tree Pittsburgh will provide all the safety gear and tools necessary to get the work done! Boots or sturdy sneakers are recommended. Long pants and sleeves are encouraged. Register now to stay in the loop about event details. For more details about this collaboration please see the newly published report Putting Down Roots.
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