A Green GIS Solution against Air Pollution in the Province of Bergamo: The Paulownia Tree.

The paper describes a GIS approach to identify the most suitable areas for growing the Paulownia tree in the Province of Bergamo; this work will become the subject of a dissertation thesis at the School of Engineering of the University of Bergamo. Paulownia is quite an ancient tree, well known especially in the far east countries, for its wonderful flowers and the quality of the wood which is a source of certain profit. The paper is focused on the employment of the Paulownia tree against air pollution, since its big leaves absorb high amounts of CO2 in the atmosphere and can capture the small particles of pollutants in the air ten times more than any other tree species. First, the analysis identifies the most favourable areas for its growth in the Province of Bergamo. Secondly, among the latter, the analysis detects the strategic areas for its growth near the most polluted zones. Finally, a quantitative evaluation is carried out about the trees contribution against pollutants in the atmosphere.