Project Title: Greenprint Baseline Data: Assessing the Quality of Urban Green Spaces in Downtown Louisville and Adjacent Neighborhoods

 

The Greenprint is a decade-long, community-driven initiative to transform downtown Louisville into a vibrant, healthy, and environmentally resilient urban core. 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. With support from a diverse coalition of government agencies, nonprofits, community groups, developers, and design professionals, the University of Louisville Christina Lee Brown Envirome Institute and Urban Design Studio are leading the scientific baseline data collection for the Greenprint this summer.

At its core, the Greenprint embraces the idea that cities are part of a larger ecological system – and that reintroducing natural elements into urban environments is essential for promoting physical, mental, and social health. Modern cities, shaped by car-centric infrastructure and conventional hardscapes, have often displaced natural systems in favor of impervious surfaces, resulting in diminished air quality, urban heat islands, and reduced opportunities for daily contact with nature to scattered pockets of vegetation in marginal or leftover spaces. This struggle for limited space and resources in cities requires a strategic and informed approach to maximize the benefits of urban greening. The Greenprint addresses this imbalance by asking: how much greening is needed to make a measurable difference in people’s lives (the dosage of nature), and where will it have the greatest impact?

Project Scope and Objectives

As a foundational step in this work, the summer student intern team will focus on assessing the current quality of urban green spaces in the Greenprint study area which not only looks at the qualities of urban design, but also biodiversity and other elements that create successful spaces that can improve environmental and human health (please see the working study area map). Establishing a strong baseline dataset is essential for tracking progress and guiding future greening initiatives. Key objectives include:

Collaborative Approach

This effort will be conducted in partnership with:

Through these collaborations, UDS aims to develop a comprehensive analysis of the parks and green spaces within the Greenprint study area.

Learning and Skill Development

Interns involved in this project will gain hands-on experience with:


 

Impact and Future Goals

This project serves as a critical step in a long-term effort to make downtown Louisville a healthier, greener, and more economically resilient urban core. The urban green space assessment will provide essential data to guide future interventions and position the Envirome Institute as a leader in evidence-based urban greening.

Key Stakeholders:

·        UofL Envirome Institute

·        Metro Louisville

·        Louisville Downtown Partnership

·        Tree Planting Organizations

Number of Students: 3 College

Key Mentor: Patrick Piuma, Director of the UofL Urban Design Studio and Professor of The Practice