# Exploring Community Co-Creation in Tree Planting and Heat-Related Health Interventions: A Qualitative Study

## TL;DR

This study explores how disadvantaged urban communities can co-create tree planting projects to combat extreme heat and promote environmental justice.

## Contribution

The paper introduces community co-creation strategies for urban greening in heat-vulnerable neighborhoods, emphasizing environmental justice and experiential knowledge.

## Key findings

- Community leaders emphasized experiential knowledge and environmental justice in urban greening.
- Participants highlighted intergenerational engagement and socioecological relationships as key themes.
- Community leaders showed less focus on volunteer stewardship compared to urban tree professionals.

## Abstract

Climate-amplified extreme heat events are particularly dangerous for city dwellers. Nature-based solutions such as urban greening may serve as an effective preventative strategy against extreme heat. Driven by historical injustices such as redlining, disadvantaged communities often face limited green space and a heightened risk of vulnerability to extreme heat in urban environments. This paper investigates community engagement strategies for heat-vulnerable community participation in urban greening research as a part of a broader transdisciplinary environmental research praxis focused on multistakeholder co-creation. We conducted semi-structured interviews with community leaders in heat-vulnerable neighborhoods in New York City to explore community co-creation in the design and implementation of tree planting, and compared these themes with interviews with urban tree professionals and other community groups. Overall, the participants agreed on broad themes of environmental justice, intergenerational engagement, community building, and socioecological relationships, although community leaders differed in both a greater emphasis of experiential knowledge and reduced focus on volunteer community stewardship. The findings inform our research process and associated community engagement, including building online resources and addressing community-specific concerns during the research process. We conclude by recommending future steps for facilitating multistakeholder conversations to build inclusive and equitable urban greening heat-adaptive strategies.