TY  - EJOU
AU  - Suranto, 
AU  - Rahmawaty, 
AU  - Fitri, Isnen 
AU  - Hakim, Luthfi 
AU  - Rauf, Abdul 
AU  - Delvian, 
AU  - Cetin, Mehmet 
AU  - Cetin, Ilknur Zeren 
AU  - Salleh, Siti Aekbal 

TI  - Urban Tree Health Assessment Using Forest Health Monitoring for Eco Forest City Planning in Medan, Indonesia
T2  - Revue Internationale de Géomatique

PY  - 2026
VL  - 35
IS  - 1
SN  - 2116-7060

AB  - Urban trees are a critical component of green infrastructure in tropical cities, yet city-scale evidence on tree health in Indonesia remains limited. This study assessed urban tree health in Medan City using the Forest Health Monitoring (FHM) protocol, Tree Level Index (TLI), GIS-based spatial analysis, and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) validation to support Eco Forest City planning. A total of 1184 trees, representing a 30% sample from 3947 inventoried trees across six sub-districts, were evaluated based on damage location, type, and severity. Average Nearest Neighbor (ANN) and Kernel Density Estimation (KDE) were applied to examine spatial clustering of health classes, while Sentinel-2 NDVI values were extracted as an indicator of vegetation greenness. Overall, 65.79% of trees were classified as healthy, 30.66% as lightly damaged, 3.04% as moderately damaged, and 0.51% as severely damaged. Tree health differed significantly among sub-districts (Kruskal-Wallis χ<sup>2</sup> = 82.31, <i>p</i> < 0.001), with Medan Tuntungan showing the best condition, whereas Medan Marelan and Medan Amplas showed the poorest profiles. ANN and KDE results indicated that tree health classes were spatially clustered, supporting geographically targeted management. NDVI values differed significantly among health classes (Kruskal-Wallis H = 49.144, <i>p</i> < 0.001), although the weak Spearman correlation suggests that NDVI is more appropriate as supplementary validation than as a substitute for field assessment. These findings support risk-based tree management through routine FHM monitoring, priority inspection in vulnerable sub-districts, spatially explicit maintenance zoning, and gradual species diversification to strengthen Medan’s Eco Forest City planning.
KW  - Urban tree health; forest health monitoring; tree level index; species vulnerability; risk-based urban tree management; eco forest city planning

DO  - 10.32604/rig.2026.081197