Nature and Biodiversity

These are the 19 cities with the most trees

The Tampa skyline is pictured ahead of the arrival of Hurricane Irma in Tampa, Florida, U.S., September 10, 2017. REUTERS/Chris Wattie

Tampa, Singapore and Oslo are the cities with the most trees. Image: REUTERS/Chris Wattie

Leanna Garfield
Innovation Reporter, Tech Insider

There's a global movement to encourage cities to grow more trees and plan more parks. On Wednesday, this year's International Day of Forests encourages urban areas to invest in green spaces.

To get a clearer picture of which cities have the most tree coverage today, MIT's Senseable Lab partnered with the World Economic Forum (WEF) to create Treepedia, a site with interactive maps that show the density of greenery in major cities around the world.

The density of trees in major cities. Image: Treepedia

The researchers used information from Google Street View to determine what they call the "Green View Index," a rating that quantifies each city's percentage of canopy coverage based on aerial images. When it launched in 2016, Treepedia featured 10 cities, but the team has since added more to its list.

The goal of Treepedia is to make make urban planning more accessible to those outside the field, MIT's Carlo Ratti said in a statement.

Check out which cities boast the highest Green View Indexes below.

19. Los Angeles, California — 15.2%

Image: REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson

18. Turin, Italy — 16.2%

Image: BI

17. Tel Aviv, Israel — 17.5%

Image: REUTERS/Amir Cohen

16. Boston, Massachusetts — 18.2%

Image: BI

15. Miami, Florida — 19.4%

Image: REUTERS/Carlos Barria

14. Toronto, Canada — 19.5%

Image: REUTERS/ Mike Cassese

13. Seattle, Washington — 20%

Image: REUTERS/Jason Redmond

12. Amsterdam, Netherlands — 20.6%

Image: REUTERS/Michael Kooren

11. Geneva, Switzerland — 21.4%

Image: REUTERS/Denis Balibouse

10. Frankfurt, Germany — 21.5%

Image: REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach

9. Sacramento, California — 23.6%

Image: Wikimedia Commons

8. Johannesburg, South Africa — 23.6%

Image: REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko

7. Durban, South Africa — 23.7%

Image: BI

6. Montreal, Canada — 25.5%

Image: BI

5. Sydney, Australia – 25.9%

Image: REUTERS/Daniel Munoz

4. Vancouver, Canada — 25.9%

A jogger runs along the seawall in Stanley Park with the city skyline in the background in this June 24, 2003 file photo. Vancouver, host of this month's Winter Olympics, prides itself on being one of the world's most liveable cities but residents seem unsure at times whether they really want the world on their doorstep.   To match feature OLYMPICS/VANCOUVER   REUTERS/Andy Clark (CANADA - Tags: SPORT OLYMPICS SOCIETY CITYSCAPE)
Image: REUTERS/Andy Clark

3. Oslo, Norway — 28.8%

Image: REUTERS/Ints Kalnins
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2. Singapore — 29.3%

Image: REUTERS/Edgar Su

1. Tampa, Florida — 36.1%

Image: REUTERS/Chris Wattie
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