City GreenPrint 1.0

The City has collaborated with the Green Infrastructure Center (GIC) to produce City GreenPrint 1.0, Charlottesville's Green Infrastructure Guide. This document supports the conservation and restoration of Charlottesville’s green infrastructure. It provides an introduction to what green infrastructure is and presents Charlottesville's green infrastructure baseline. GreenPrint also includes a summary of planning and analysis tools developed specifically around the topic of tree planting potential. Intended users include City staff and decision makers, developers, citizens, and anyone who wants to support the City’s goal to be A Green City.GreenPrint Cover Opens in new window

City GreenPrint 1.0 contains:

  • A compilation of green infrastructure assets
  • Key facts and statistics about the city’s green infrastructure
  • Maps of key green resources and tips for how to use them
  • An analysis of tree-specific planting opportunities
  • Resources for implementation

The wealth of information presented in the numerous maps in City GreenPrint 1.0 can be viewed or downloaded below. There are two categories of maps:

  1. City Asset Maps - present the city’s green infrastructure extent, location, and how it supports important goals such as clean water, livable neighborhoods, settings for cultural sites, recreation, and also social equity in terms of how assets are distributed citywide. 
  2. Potential Tree Planting Map Books- the result of high-level GIS analyses to identify where there are potential locations for new tree plantings throughout the city. The locations identified in these map books represent hypothetical planting locations that can serve as a strategic planning tool as Charlottesville continues to enhance its urban forest. The map books come in two formats:
    • A citywide screening of where there may be potential to plant trees, which is a useful first step in understanding not only where and how many trees might be planted, but also what benefits might be associated with planting in a given location.
    • A supplemental map series that provides an overview of potential tree planting locations at a neighborhood level. The supplemental map series was created to summarize five metrics that provide insight into potential benefits of tree planting - potential tree planting location density, relative temperature, household income, sub-catchment imperviousness, and population density.

Note: the maps are static maps that were developed in January 2017 based on the most current tree canopy data available at the time, which was generated from a 2014 aerial flyover of Charlottesville.

Note: Map files are large and may take a minute to load.

  1. City Asset Maps
  2. City-wide tree planting maps 
  3. Neighborhood scale tree planting maps
Map Name Description
Tree Canopy Depicts the extent of existing tree canopy coverage in Charlottesville 
Charlottesville's Green Networks Provides a snapshot of the city’s green resources that support both wildlife and people
Tree Canopy Patches Shows a distribution of forest patches meeting certain size criteria
Impervious Surface Coverage by Subcatchment Depicts the extent of impervious surface coverage of small drainage areas
Tree Canopy Coverage by Street Depicts tree canopy coverage within 50 feet of roadways
Tree Canopy Coverage by Subcatchment Depicts tree canopy coverage of small drainage areas
Tree Canopy Within 100 Feet of Surface Water Depicts tree canopy coverage within riparian buffer areas
Recreation Assets Shows where tree canopy exists relative to various recreational assets
Historic and Cultural Assets Shows historic and cultural assets such as National Register sites, schools, and parks 
Major Watersheds and Flood Zones Depicts Charlottesville's major waterways, watersheds, flood zones, and locations of green stormwater infrastructure
Public Lands and Schools Shows lands owned by the City of Charlottesville, Charlottesville School Board, County of Albemarle, and University of Virginia