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Balancing Urban Growth and Green Spaces: A Study on Kolkata’s Tree Canopy 🌳🏙
Temporal Change Monitoring of Tree Growth and Shrubs
ARU-SOFTWAREOPSUSE-CASE
3/6/20252 min read
Introduction
As cities expand, striking a balance between urban development and environmental conservation becomes crucial. Kolkata, a city rich in cultural heritage and rapid urbanization, presents a unique challenge—maintaining green spaces amid infrastructure growth.
This study leverages drone-captured high-resolution imagery and an AI-powered tree detection model to analyze tree canopy distribution in Northern and Central Kolkata. The goal? To provide data-driven insights for sustainable urban planning that integrates green infrastructure for better air quality, cooling effects, and overall urban well-being.
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Why Do Green Spaces Matter?
🏡 Urban Cooling – Trees reduce the urban heat island effect, lowering city temperatures
🌱 Air Quality – Dense vegetation absorbs pollutants and enhances oxygen levels
🚶 Livability & Well-being – Green spaces improve mental and physical health
With increasing urbanization, monitoring and protecting these spaces is more important than ever.
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How We Measured Tree Canopy Coverage
We used a fine-tuned Deep Forest model—a deep learning-based detection algorithm—to analyze drone imagery and identify trees.
📍 Key Steps:
1️⃣ Drone Image Collection – 1,277 high-resolution aerial images captured over Northern & Central Kolkata
2️⃣ AI-Powered Tree Detection – Deep Forest model trained for accurate canopy identification
3️⃣ Spatial Analysis – Measuring tree density, distribution, and urban greenery patterns
With 90% Intersection over Union (IoU) accuracy, our model precisely mapped tree canopies and provided insights into Kolkata’s green cover dynamics.
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Findings: Green Infrastructure in Kolkata
🌳 Central Kolkata – Highly fragmented green spaces, trees primarily in parks and heritage sites
🌲 Northern Kolkata – A natural and diverse tree distribution, blending old and new urban growth
By mapping tree locations, our model helps urban planners optimize tree planting efforts for maximum environmental impact.
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Heatmaps: Visualizing Green Density
To make data actionable, we generated heatmaps representing tree concentrations.
📊 What Heatmaps Reveal:
🟢 Dense tree cover in specific neighborhoods
🟡 Sparse greenery in high-urbanization zones
🔴 Potential areas for tree planting initiatives
These maps assist policymakers, environmentalists, and city planners in ensuring a well-balanced urban ecosystem.
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What This Means for Sustainable Cities
🚀 Data-Driven Urban Planning – Helps integrate green infrastructure into city layouts
🏗 Balanced Growth – Ensures development doesn’t come at the cost of environmental health
🌍 Scalable Approach – AI-powered monitoring can be applied to other metro cities worldwide
By merging technology, AI, and environmental studies, this research offers a blueprint for sustainable urbanization.
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Looking Ahead: The Future of Urban Greenery
🔮 Real-time AI monitoring for urban forestry management
🛰 Satellite & drone synergy for large-scale environmental tracking
🏙 Integration with smart city data for predictive planning
As urbanization accelerates, AI-powered green monitoring ensures that cities remain livable and ecologically balanced.
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Conclusion
🌿 Green spaces are the lungs of a city—essential for sustainability, health, and climate resilience.
📡 With AI-powered tree detection, we can quantify, protect, and expand these spaces strategically.
🏙 As Kolkata grows, this study provides a scientific roadmap for ensuring a greener future for generations to come.
Will future cities prioritize trees as much as skyscrapers? 🌍💡
Blog by Kesowa AI Team
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