Growing the Urban Forest. From our Practitioners’ perspective to Field Initiatives

Abstract

<p>The Urban Forestry body of knowledge, incorporating the protection, preservation and care of trees, and their landscapes that enhance our urban areas, has been informed by research in soil science, horticulture, plant form/function/pathology, entomology, climate science, health care and the social sciences.</p><p>Such contributing research was represented in the COST Action FP1204 “GreenInUrbs” book - "The Urban Forest: Cultivating Green Infrastructure for People and the Environment" (Springer 2017).</p><p>But that Urban Forestry body of knowledge also reflects an evolved aggregation from the disciplines of forestry, landscape architecture and arboriculture.</p><p>Chapter 24 “Growing the Urban Forest: Our Practitioners’ Perspective” represented the professional disciplines of Maria Beatrice Andreucci, Landscape Architect, and Naomi Zürcher, Urban Forester/Consulting Arborist - two practitioners’ voices, applying their experiences in “growing” our Urban Forest to the entirety of the book’s submissions:</p><ul><li>scrutinizing the scientific findings’ applicability in project design and implementation as well as day-to-day management;</li> <li>analyzing the functionality of Urban Forest resource management: planning, design, maintenance;</li> <li>evaluating/presenting strategies for participatory stewardship from Third Sector and the informed community;</li> <li>describing/recommending viable, supportive good governance policies that can actually “grow” a healthy Urban Forest and deliver essential Ecosystem Services benefits.</li> </ul><p>All well and good, but chapters in books offering scientific findings, data and its outcomes are only as effective and influential as the actions they initiate. What is essential is actionable plans that make the findings and the data live.</p><p>Those critical actions and initiatives fall to the knowledgeable Practitioner. This presentation will offer outcomes of our Practitioners’ observations, described in the COST GreenInUrbs chapter, translating that experience into actionable projects invested in ecological design and sustainable management of the urban ecosystem:</p><p>1) Mapping multiple benefits of Urban Green Infrastructure (UGI), promoting evidence-based landscape and urban design –Maria Beatrice Andreucci, International Federation of Landscape Architect (IFLA) Advisory Circle member, is providing IFLA practitioners and students, representing professional associations from five continents, with research-based evidence of ecological, environmental, social and economic benefits provided by UGI projects to:</p><ul><li>support informed decision-making and climate-adaptive design strategies at different scales (i.e. architecture, district, city, region, etc.) with metrics and other scientific findings;</li> <li>disseminate knowledge about useful valuation tools and methodologies tested on a large repository of international UGI case studies, with particular emphasis on the assessment of co-benefits and trade-offs, implied in sustainable transformations of the urban ecosystem.</li> </ul><p>2) Creating an i-Tree Eco-based Urban Forest Management Toolbox: Turning i-Tree outputs into Climate-Adaptive outcomes, offering management strategies for growing the Swiss Urban Forest –Naomi Zürcher, an affiliate i-Tree team member, is spearheading this Federally-funded climate change adaptation project in 8 Swiss cities. i-Tree Eco quantified assessment outputs of existing urban tree structure and function are utilized to:</p><ul><li>provide a connective understanding between the quantified values and managing for the protection, preservation and retention of mature urban trees;</li> <li>realize an Urban Forest Management Toolbox, developed by all project participants, comprised of creative planning, design and management strategies from an Ecosystem Services perspective, enabling Climate Change adaptations today for Swiss Cities of tomorrow.</li> </ul><div> <div> <div> </div> </div> <div> <div> </div> </div> <div> <div> </div> </div> <div> <div> </div> </div> <div> <div> </div> </div> </div>