Beyond the metropolis: street tree communities and resident perceptions on ecosystem services in small urban centers in India

Although 41% of the global urban population lives in smaller cities, the nature and trajectories of urban nature, ecosystem services and human-nature connections in smaller centers is relatively unknown. While megacities in developed countries move towards biophilic urban planning and participatory decision making, basic information on tree communities and their perceived services is a bottleneck in achieving these goals in such small urban centers. Through a combination of field measurements (258 transects, 931 trees) and semi-structured interviews (497 individuals), we assessed the street tree community and resident perceptions of ecosystem service values in two coastal cities on the west coast of India that are under rapid change. We found that mean street tree density is low in both cities, and corresponds to perceptions of recent change in tree cover (−28% in Kochi, −11% in Panjim). The street tree community in both cities were dominated by ornamental avenue trees such as Albizia saman and Peltophorum pterocarpum, but native coastal species like Cocos nucifera, Terminalia catappa and Thespesia populnea were also common. Despite recent urban growth, residents in both cities reported low value of trees for food, fodder and medicine, but high value for regulating services like shade and water. Moreover, we found strong evidence for aesthetic and cultural values of trees in both cities. Our study establishes critical baselines for biophilic planning in these small urban centers towards urban sustainability in India.