Interlinking the silos: How to stimulate a new debate on more greenery in cities

Abstract

To address the current and future impacts of climate change on urban inhabitants, the development and benefits of urban green areas have been widely investigated – including parks, open unsealed spaces, residential gardens and street trees. However, the provision of urban green spaces can be used by private developers or private-public partnerships as a marketing tool to increase real-estate values. This presents a disadvantage for low-income households who may not be able to stay where they are or move to buildings or areas less affected by heat waves. Another key challenge reflects land-use conflicts created by the need to plant more trees, as opposed to other urban needs such as more parking spaces. At present, in several cities, policy and planning instruments remain inadequate in providing enough green spaces such as urban trees to lessen the heat stress in cities (for example, in poorer neighborhoods and new urban transformations led by private developers). The need for the proliferation of urban trees faces multiple expectations and challenges from several perspectives: 1) the crucial need for adaptation to climate change; 2) the partial presence (or total absence) of trees in areas undergoing densification and future transformations to readdress within effective planning strategies and tools; and 3) the relevance of social consequences (counteracting socio-spatial inequalities and considering residents’ perspectives) linked to green gentrification and environmental justice. The aim of this paper is to investigate these three perspectives (which are currently independent, for the most part), in order to interlink the silos and address the need for an interdisciplinary perspective of trees in urban areas. We suggest that the integration of these three aspects would help us fill the current knowledge gaps and enable a comprehensive perspective on social and environmental policies required in the complex urban system, and therefore also encourage new research paths, as well as a higher social acceptance by homeowners and renters.