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Abstract

Tree shade in urban environments serves to improve human thermal comfort and building energy use during the summer months. Under future climates, tree shade becomes an even more important ecosystem service that promotes climate change resilience. Tree shade was modelled in order to optimize shade coverage on UBC Vancouver campus by providing recommendations for tree planting based on species and planting configuration. Using LiDAR point clouds of 463 individual trees from species considered resilient to climate change, median normalized shade area per species was modelled over the course of one day. Furthermore, the total tree shade for each neighbourhood on campus was modelled using the same LiDAR dataset in order to determine which planting configurations most effectively shaded buildings. The planting configurations of neighbourhoods with a higher percentage of total tree shade falling on buildings were examined in order to provide recommendations for future planting efforts. Deodar cedar and black pine were observed to provide the highest normalized median shaded area, and are recommended for planting in order to promote climate change resilience and shade cover on UBC campus. University Boulevard and Chancellor Place were found to be the neighbourhoods with the most efficient planting configurations for the purpose of shading buildings. This was due to trees planted in thin belts along the south-west and south-east faces of buildings, maximizing individual shade contributions from each tree along the sun-facing side of each building. This tree planting configuration is recommended for the optimal shading of important targets on UBC campus, especially when resources are limited and must be properly allocated. Disclaimer: “UBC SEEDS provides students with the opportunity to share the findings of their studies, as well as their opinions, conclusions and recommendations with the UBC community. The reader should bear in mind that this is a student project/report and is not an official document of UBC. Furthermore readers should bear in mind that these reports may not reflect the current status of activities at UBC. We urge you to contact the research persons mentioned in a report or the SEEDS Coordinator about the current status of the subject matter of a project/report.”