Trager MicroForest Preliminary Data Collection

The concept of the microforest comes from Japanese botanist Akira Miyawaki, who pioneered a method of rapidly establishing urban forests through carefully selected, dense plantings based off the species found in local old-growth forests. Modeling after old-growth forests accelerated growth as plants competed for light and resources, creating microcosms of old growth forests. The microforest model has seen widespread adoption in Europe and Asia but is rare in the United States and non-existent in Kentucky.

In the post-COVID era, downtown Louisville is at a crossroads. Urban renewal demolished much of downtowns dense commercial and residential areas and re-oriented it towards car-centric infrastructure and office buildings. This led to downtown now being more pavement than buildings, surface lots alone take up a quarter of downtown and are generally half empty. Downtown’s tree canopy coverage is also sitting at just 8%, this and the prevalence of paved surfaces are factors that have negative health outcomes caused by the urban heat island effect and extensive pollution from cars.

The Trager MicroForest aims to be an example of what is possible, and act as a catalyst to green downtown and make it a place people want to live and work. This will be a truly unique urban greenspace that will show us how to integrate nature into our cities rather than have them be separate entities. The long-term goal is to have a “green network” that provides downtown residents and workers easy access to green spaces similar to that in Savannah, GA and Portland, OR. This project will build the foundation for a similar network in Louisville that will work to curb the negative effects of downtown’s current urban design.

The project will be located at Founder’s Square between 5 ^th  and Armory. Founder’s Square is an ideal location for a project such as this. The space has long been underutilized and is in the heart of downtown. The site is directly adjacent to the planned New Vision of Health Campus, a large residential building, metro government offices, and the new development planned for the Louisville Gardens.

The MicroForest will serve multiple functions as a green space, public space, and research project. This will provide a much-needed dense green space within walking distance for downtown residents while also serving as an activation space that can be used for educational and recreational purposes. The site will be useful for research as well, acting as a study area to see the effects of access to greenery on physiological issues like stress, recovery speed from medical conditions, and so on. It is rare that such a small space can have such a large impact, but the Trager MicroForest has the capability of transforming Louisville’s urban fabric and catalyzing similar projects across the city.

Six WeatherFlow Tempest stations were put up inside Founder's Square. The devices track temperature, humidity, dew point, feels like, heat index, Barometric pressure, sea-level pressure, trends Lightning detection and more. The stations will remain in the square after the MicroForest is established in order to see the effects on the micro-climate. Preliminary readings could also show interesting data on how shade, proximity to cars, and other factors effect the sensor's readings.

This station is located in the Northeast corner of the square, a partly shaded area that sees the most pedestrian traffic.

Link:  https://tempestwx.com/station/107000/ 

This station is located in the North-Central area of the square, being exposed to direct sunlight much of the day.

Link:  https://tempestwx.com/station/106997/ 

This station is located in the Northwest corner of the square, a partly shaded area.

Link:  https://tempestwx.com/station/107001/ 

This station is located in the Southwest portion of the square, a partly shaded area.

Link:  https://tempestwx.com/station/107214/ 

This station is located in the South-Central portion of the square, which receives the second lowest amount of sunlight.

Link:  https://tempestwx.com/station/107216/ 

This station is located in the Southeast corner of the square. The station receives the least sunlight due the corner having the most canopy of any area in the square, to where the station cannot function off solar power alone, like the rest.

Link:  https://tempestwx.com/station/107218/ 

A Campbell weather station has also been installed near the center of the square. This station is larger and more "research-grade" than the tempest stations, and will provide extremely precise data. The data from this station is collected manually. Three highly sensitive radiant air temperature sensors were also put up around the square, both shaded and in the open.

The Chronologs are mounts for anyone to take pictures of the square, the goal is to create a timelapse that will show the visual difference before, during, and after the MicroForest is established. There are two stations, the first is in the southwest corner and the second in the northeast corner.

Chronolog 1:  https://www.chronolog.io/site/UOL101 

Chronolog 2:  https://www.chronolog.io/site/UOL102 

The Urban Design Studio has been conducting a study of activities in the park to see its current uses. This information is vital to know what the space lacks, and to compare to how it used after the MicroForest is established. Below is a heat map with the data collected so far, and linked  here  is the full dashboard.

There are some trends so far: station 1 and 2 get the most sunlight by far, almost double of third place, but have only slightly higher temperatures than the rest. Station 4 sees the highest wind speeds.

So far, we have a few months of weather data for the microforest site from the tempest stations. From this data, we can get a sense of the summer microclimate for this site. These sensors will continue to collect data as the microforest is established, so we will be able to compare the conditions of the microclimate before and after.

The data is already showing a variety of different conditions across this relatively small space. It is too early to identify direct causes, but factors such as proximity to cars, proximity to buildings, presence of canopy, and so on are likely influences to changes in conditions between stations. This is evident in the wind map above and the differences in temperature, humidity, wind speed, and so on.

When the microforest is established, the data will be compared and visualized to compare to these readings.

Other preliminary research is taking place soon. Data will be collected using human subjects, testing stress-related health factors in an urban and green environment (using the square as it is) and then compared to data collected after the completion of the microforest.

There is currently not an established timeline for the construction of the microforest, it is hoped that work can begin in early 2024.