Planting urban trees to improve quality of life? The life satisfaction impacts of urban afforestation

As cities around the world undertake large-scale urban afforestation projects, knowledge gaps continue to exist regarding their impacts on quality of life. Using individual-level life satisfaction (LS) data from the CDC Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System over 2005-2010, this paper investigates the subjective well-being impacts of the MillionTreesNYC afforestation program in New York City. Using a difference-in-differences approach, I find that LS is higher by 0.018 points on a 4-point scale during the first 3-years of the program. Consistent with a causal story, impacts are growing in magnitude as more trees are planted and I show no impacts during the months when deciduous trees have no foliage. Between 2007 and 2010, MillionTreesNYC generated an externality equivalent to a $505 (6.5%) increase in average per capita monthly household income. Several robustness checks and falsification tests are performed. This work has important implications for global urban afforestation policy.

Automated summary

The study demonstrates that the MillionTreesNYC afforestation program in New York City had a positive impact on individual's life satisfaction during the first 3 years, with the effects growing in strength as more trees are planted and no effects observed during months with deciduous trees lacking foliage. The externality generated by MillionTreesNYC between 2007 and 2010 was equivalent to a $505 increase in average per capita monthly household income, highlighting the important implications for global urban afforestation policies.