Greenprint

Greenprint

Greenprint is a 10-year, community-led initiative to transform downtown Louisville into a healthier, greener, and more resilient urban core. With an evidenced-based approach led by the University of Louisville’s Christina Lee Brown Envirome Institute and the Urban Design Studio, the project unites a diverse coalition of government agencies, nonprofits, community groups, developers, and design professionals around a shared commitment to improving human well-being through nature-based urban design.

By combining urban planning, ecology, and public health research, the Greenprint identifies where nature can have the greatest impact, aiming to determine the optimal dose of nature that can make a measurable difference in improving air quality, reducing heat, encouraging physical activity, and supporting community well-being. It's not just about planting trees; it’s about integrating the natural ecosystem into the heart of the city, maximizing its benefits for human and environmental health.

Rooted in scientific inquiry and civic collaboration, the Greenprint serves as both a local intervention and a scalable model for cities seeking to align environmental planning with public health outcomes, thereby shaping a new vision of urban life —one where nature and people thrive together.

Greenprint Study Area

The current Greenprint study area has a specific focus on downtown (yellow in the map above) as defined by the Ohio River to the north, York Street to the south, 9th Street to the west and Hancock Street to the east. The study boundary extends one-mile beyond downtown (light brown in the map above) to include potential connections to significant green spaces that could serve as ecological corridors into downtown.

Evidence-Based Greening: Initial Conditions

We will begin by collecting essential baseline data to better understand current conditions in downtown Louisville. This includes measuring air pollution, urban heat, noise levels, and traffic patterns. We'll also assess how certain aspects of the built environment such as street layout, building density, and infrastructure contribute to stress or discomfort for people living and visiting the area.

In addition, we'll take a close look at the area's green spaces. We'll evaluate how many there are, what condition they are in, how accessible they are, and how well they connect to each other and the surrounding neighborhoods. This information will help guide thoughtful, targeted improvements moving forward.

Initial Baseline Data Collection

Urban Green Space Quality Assessments

As a foundational step in the Greenprint work, a cohort of summer interns will focus on assessing the current quality of urban green spaces within the Greenprint study area. The assessments will build on work completed by our partners at Parks Alliance of Louisville, not only looking at the qualities of urban design, but also biodiversity and other elements that create successful scopes that can improve environmental and human health. Establishing a strong baseline dataset is essential for tracking progress and guiding future greening initiatives.

Key objectives include:

  • Utilizing a modified version of the RECITAL urban greening space quality assessment tool
  • On-site field evaluation of the identified green spaces within the Greenprint study area
  • Understanding and identifying potential connective green corridors to connect significant green spaces

Regional Greening Efforts

In order to grow our body of knowledge around evidence-based greening, it is essential to understand and learn from greening projects across the city, whether they fall within the Greenprint study area or beyond. Below you will find information we have gathered on greening efforts.

greening map graphic

Greening Projects Map

There are currently over 30 projects in Louisville that either focus on greening or have greening as a significant component.

The projects have been split into two categories on the map. Category 1 (green) projects have greening as a central focus. Category 2 (purple) have greening as a component of their projects.

Greening Projects

Green Heart Project
Neighborhood:
Wyandotte/Beechmont
Status:
Complete
Completion Date:
2023
Data Collection:
Health
Chickasaw Park
Pond Restoration
Neighborhood:
Chickasaw
Status:
Complete
Completion Date:
2024
Plant List:
N/A
Data Collection:
A New Vision of Health Campus
Neighborhood:
Downtown
Status:
Construction
Completion Date:
2025
Plant List:
N/A
Data Collection:
East Market
Streetscape Redesign
Neighborhood:
NULU
Status:
Construction
Completion Date:
2025
Data Collection:
Eclipse in Russell
Neighborhood:
Russell
Status:
Construction
Completion Date:
2025
Plant List:
N/A
Data Collection:
JCTC Commons
Neighborhood:
Downtown/LOUMED
Status:
Construction
Completion Date:
2025
Plant List:
N/A
Data Collection:
researchers setting up weather station

Environmental Impacts

Along with documenting the locations and plant lists of relevant projects, we are gathering data on the environmental impacts of greening efforts wherever possible to continually develop evidence-based planting methods. This includes metrics such as temperature, air pollution, and wildlife activity, as well as relevant scientific papers.

Data collection occurs either continuously (tracked consistently throughout the project) or as baseline measurements (captured for comparison before and after implementation). Links to the data and/or articles about the research will be shared when the data is publicly available.

people walking on park path

Health Impacts

Understanding the health impacts of urban greening is a critical focus of the Christina Lee Brown Envirome Institute at the University of Louisville. This data can include measures such as stress levels, heart rate, respiration, and other physiological indicators, alongside supporting scientific studies and survey findings.

Data collection methodologies encompass both continuous monitoring (capturing data consistently throughout a project) and baseline assessments (establishing pre- and post-intervention comparisons). Links to the data will be included when available.

Plant Lists

If you are just looking for plant lists, this is the section for you. This section contains all the plant lists we have acquired from relevant projects and developments. These lists can also be found with their associated greening project cards in a section above. The collected plant lists are the most recent documents we have for each project, though they may not necessarily be the final plant list for projects currently underway.

Trager MicroForest Project (Draft)
• Green Heart Louisville

• Alberta O Jones Park

• Speed Art Museum Green Space
(Draft)
• East Market Streetscape Redesign

Related Research

This section contains related research articles we think are of interest and that will help inform our greening projects.

  • Bhatnagar A, Keith R, Yeager R, Riggs D, Sears C, Bucknum B, Smith T, Fleischer D, Chandler C, Walker KL, Hart JL, Srivastava S, Turner J, Rai S.
    The Green Heart Project: Objectives, Design, and Methods
    medRxiv [Preprint]. 2023 Dec 5:2023.12.05.23299461. doi: 10.1101/2023.12.05.23299461. Update in: Am J Epidemiol. 2024 Dec 16:kwae458. doi: 10.1093/aje/kwae458. PMID: 38105951; PMCID: PMC10723507.
  • Bickel, Scott & Bhatnagar, Aruni & Smith, Ted & Yeager, Ray & Eid, Nemr & Hagan, Adrian & Sullivan, Janice & Watson, Sara & Morton, Ronald. (2024).
    Assessing Childhood Asthma Control in Areas with Increase Urban Environmental Greenery: A Pilot Study
    CHEST. 166. A5082-A5083.10.1016/j.chest.2024.06.3019.
  • Browning, Matthew & Wolf, Kathleen & Murray-Tuite, Pamela & Browning, Lara & Chowdhury, Mashrur & Chen, Chien-Fei & Coyle, David & Dzhambov, Angel & Fan, Chao & Hauer, Richard & Khreis, Haneen & Mack, Abigail & McAnirlin, Olivia & Marshall, Lauren & Middel, Ariane & Nicolette, Matthew & Rigolon, Alessandro & Ogle, Jennifer & Ossola, Alessandro & Yeager, Ray. (2024).
    The Value and Urgency of Transportation Forestry
    10.32942/X2ZS54.
  • Browning MHEM, Locke DH, Konijnendijk C, Labib SM, Rigolon A, Yeager R, Bardhan M, Berland A, Dadvand P, Helbich M, Li F, Li H, James P, Klompmaker J, Reuben A, Roman LA, Tsai WL, Patwary M, O'Neil-Dunne J, Ossola A, Wang R, Yang B, Yi L, Zhang J, Nieuwenhuijsen M.
    Measuring the 3-30-300 rule to help cities meet nature access thresholdsSci
    Total Environ. 2024 Jan 10;907:167739. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.167739. Epub 2023 Oct 11. PMID: 37832672; PMCID: PMC11090249.
  • Coleman CJ, Yeager RA, Pond ZA, Riggs DW, Bhatnagar A, Arden Pope C 3rd.
    Mortality risk associated with greenness, air pollution, and physical activity in a representative U.S. cohort
    Sci Total Environ. 2022 Jun 10;824:153848. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.153848. Epub 2022 Feb 14. PMID: 35176374; PMCID: PMC10243166.
  • Coleman CJ, Yeager RA, Riggs DW, Coleman NC, Garcia GR, Bhatnagar A, Pope CA.
    Greenness, air pollution, and mortality risk: A U.S. cohort study of cancer patients and survivors.
    Environ Int. 2021 Dec;157:106797. doi: 10.1016/j.envint.2021.106797. Epub 2021 Jul 29. PMID: 34332301.
  • Keith RJ, Hart JL, Bhatnagar A.
    Greenspaces And Cardiovascular Health
    Circ Res. 2024 Apr 26;134(9):1179-1196. doi: 10.1161/CIRCRESAHA.124.323583. Epub 2024 Apr 25. PMID: 38662868.
  • Li, H., Zhao, Y., Wang, C. et al.
    Cooling efficacy of trees across cities is determined by background climate, urban morphology, and tree trait.
    Commun Earth Environ 5, 754 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-024-01908-4
  • M.A. Rahman, L.M.F. Stratopoulos, A. Moser-Reischl, T. Zölch, K.-H. Häberle, T. Rötzer, H. Pretzsch, S. Pauleit
    Traits of trees for cooling urban heat islands: a meta-analysis
    Building and Environment, 170 (2020), p. 106606, 10.1016/j.buildenv.2019.106606
  • McLeish AC, Smith T, Riggs DW, Hart JL, Walker KL, Keith RJ, Anderson L, Sithu I, Pinilla-Baquero J, Srivastava S, Bhatnagar A.
    Community-Based Evaluation of the Associations Between Well-Being and Cardiovascular Disease Risk
    J Am Heart Assoc. 2022 Nov 15;11(22):e027095. doi: 10.1161/JAHA.122.027095. Epub 2022 Nov 12. PMID: 36370026; PMCID: PMC9750082.
  • Prathibha P, Yeager R, Bhatnagar A, Turner J.
    Green Heart Louisville: intra-urban, hyperlocal land-use regression modeling of nitrogen oxides and ozone
    medRxiv [Preprint]. 2023 Mar 9:2023.03.03.23286765. doi: 10.1101/2023.03.03.23286765. PMID: 36945554; PMCID: PMC10029020.
  • Riggs, Daniel & DuPré, Natalie & James, Peter & Rai, Shesh & Yeager, Ray & Sears, Clara & Laden, Francine & Bhatnagar, Aruni. (2024).
    Association of Ecoregion Distribution of Greenness With Cardiovascular Mortality: A Longitudinal Ecological Study in the United States
    Circulation Research. 134. 1221-1223. 10.1161/CIRCRESAHA.124.324427.
  • Riggs, Daniel & Malovichko, Marina & Yeager, Ray & Sears, Clara & Sithu, Israel & Gao, Hong & Keith, Rachel & Srivastava, Sanjay & Bhatnagar, Aruni. (2022).
    Relations of Residential Greenness with Markers of Immunity and Inflammation in the Green Heart Study
    ISEE Conference Abstracts. 2022. 10.1289/isee.2022.P-0277.
  • Riggs DW, Yeager R, Conklin DJ, DeJarnett N, Keith RJ, DeFilippis AP, Rai SN, Bhatnagar A.
    Residential proximity to greenness mitigates the hemodynamic effects of ambient air pollution
    Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol. 2021 Mar 1;320(3):H1102-H1111. doi: 10.1152/ajpheart.00689.2020. Epub 2021 Jan 8. PMID: 33416460; PMCID: PMC8294702.
  • Sears, Clara & Riggs, Daniel & Keith, Rachel & Sithu, Israel & Yeager, Ray & Srivastava, Sanjay & Bhatnagar, Aruni. (2024).
    The Effects of Neighborhood Greening on Inflammation in The Green Heart Project
    ISEE Conference Abstracts. 2024. 10.1289/isee.2024.1426.
  • Wood LA, Tomlinson MM, Pfeiffer JA, Walker KL, Keith RJ, Smith T, Yeager RA, Bhatnagar A, Kerstiens S, Gilkey D, Gao H, Srivastava S, Hart JL.
    Time spent outdoors and sleep normality: A preliminary investigation
    Popul Med. 2021 Mar;3:7. doi: 10.18332/popmed/132119. Epub 2021 Mar 4. PMID: 34485920; PMCID: PMC8411876.
  • Xie Z, Sutaria SR, Chen JY, Gao H, Conklin DJ, Keith RJ, Srivastava S, Lorkiewicz P, Bhatnagar A.
    Evaluation of urinary limonene metabolites as biomarkers of exposure to greenness
    Environ Res. 2024 Mar 15;245:117991. doi: 10.1016/j.envres.2023.117991. Epub 2023 Dec 22. PMID: 38141921; PMCID: PMC10922478.
  • Yeager, Ray & Riggs, Daniel & Bhatnagar, Aruni. (2023).
    Place-based directionality of associations between greenness and coronary heart disease
    ISEE Conference Abstracts. 2023. 10.1289/isee.2023.OP-063. Link wont insert: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/377507482_Place-based_directionality_of_associations_between_greenness_and_coronary_heart_disease
  • Yeager R, Browning MHEM, Breyer E, Ossola A, Larson LR, Riggs DW, Rigolon A, Chandler C, Fleischer D, Keith R, Walker K, Hart JL, Smith T, Bhatnagar A.
    Greenness and equity: Complex connections between intra-neighborhood contexts and residential tree planting implementation
    Environ Int. 2023 Jun;176:107955. doi: 10.1016/j.envint.2023.107955. Epub 2023 May 12. PMID: 37196566; PMCID: PMC10367429
  • Yeager R, Keith RJ, Riggs DW, Fleischer D, Browning MHEM, Ossola A, Walker KL, Hart JL, Srivastava S, Rai SN, Smith T, Bhatnagar A.
    Intra-neighborhood associations between residential greenness and blood pressure
    Sci Total Environ. 2024 Oct 10;946:173788. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.173788. Epub 2024 Jun 18. PMID: 38901580
  • Yeager R, Riggs DW, DeJarnett N, Srivastava S, Lorkiewicz P, Xie Z, Krivokhizhina T, Keith RJ, Srivastava S, Browning MHEM, Zafar N, Krishnasamy S, DeFilippis A, Turner J, Rai SN, Bhatnagar A.
    Association between residential greenness and exposure to volatile organic compounds
    Sci Total Environ. 2020 Mar 10;707:135435. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.135435. Epub 2019 Nov 23. PMID: 31865083; PMCID: PMC7294698.
  • Yeager RA, Smith TR, Bhatnagar A.
    Green environments and cardiovascular health
    Trends Cardiovasc Med. 2020 May;30(4):241-246. doi: 10.1016/j.tcm.2019.06.005. Epub 2019 Jun 18. PMID: 31248691; PMCID: PMC7995555.