Ever stare at a drab city street and imagine how much better it would look lined with trees? So did a group of researchers who recently launched a sophisticated computer modeling tool that allows city planners to do exactly that.
It's called Tree-D Fusion, and it has the potential to radically reshape — and green up — the future of cities.
The researchers published a paper in 2024 that outlines how the system works. Basically, Tree-D Fusion merges the science of forestry with powerful AI algorithms to produce realistic tree model imagery.
The software can take a flat, 2D photo of a tree (like one provided by Google Street View, for example) and create a complete 3D model from that simple image. It can then use the computing power of AI to predict how that individual tree will grow, or how an area planted with trees may look years later once the trees have matured.
"This continuous monitoring creates a living digital forest that mirrors its physical counterpart," Sara Beery, a professor at MIT who helped author the study, told MIT News. "[It offers] cities a powerful lens to observe how environmental stresses shape tree health and growth patterns across their urban landscape."
This is exciting because it can allow city planners a realistic, data-based glimpse into the future of trees in an urban environment. If a stand of trees, for example, threatens to grow into power or communication lines, the software can predict that will happen long before it branches out into a real problem.
But it's not just about predicting potential tree maintenance issues. Tree-D Fusion's technology can better tap into the potential for urban forests to help maintain livability as the climate continues to warm.
It can do this in a couple of ways.
One is by mapping the impossibly intricate shade patterns created by urban forests. That can help city planners envision how entire cityscapes can be shade-cooled with proper tree planting and cultivation.
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Another related way is using AI tree modeling to better understand and visualize green spaces in cities. Green spaces are crucial for mitigating the heat island effect — when concrete areas build up and concentrate heat.
Access to green spaces is also a public and sociological health issue. A 2008 study in The Lancet showed a direct link between having easy access to green spaces in a city and income inequality and life expectancy.
Being able to plan for more green spaces in a city, and envisioning how those spaces will grow and change over the coming decades, could be a powerful tool to help make cities more livable, clean, and equitable.
"Together with my collaborators," wrote Jae Joong Lee, a Purdue University Ph.D. student who helped build the Tree-D Fusion algorithm, "I envision expanding the platform's capabilities to a planetary scale. Our goal is to use AI-driven insights in service of natural ecosystems — supporting biodiversity, promoting global sustainability, and ultimately, benefiting the health of our entire planet."
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