Case studies tagged with Urban forest

Water Haigh Woodland Park, Lower River Aire Valley – Leeds, UK

The case study site provides connected multi-functional green space that maximises ecosystem services for the sites and the local communities. Objectives include:

The provision of regionally important landscape scale natural habitats, encompassing mixed woodlands, hedgerows, grasslands and wetlands, encompassing the reclamation of UF-NbS (Urban Forests as Nature-Based Solutions) of previously mined industrial land.
The provision of unlimited public access via footpaths, cycle ways and bridle ways;
The health and well-

Fu Forest Trail - Fuzhou, China

Protection of forest coverage and urban greenspace, maintaining the status of urban forests and providing better conditions for forest naturalisation;
Fostering health and wellbeing benefits gained through the use of the recreation facilities;
Providing educational facilities for local residents and visitors.

Meishan Dongpo Urban Wetland Park - Sichuan Province, China

Dongpo Wetland Park aims to allow for the provision of connected multifunctional green spaces and to ensure the sustainable development of the city while retaining the original wetland environment.

It further aims to provide a new green and open leisure space for urban residents. The original wetland has been preserved with the aim to maintain regional biodiversity and to improve the water quality of the area.

Green Wedges - Jiaxing, Zhejiang Province, China

The three green wedges around the City of Jiaxing aim to regulate urban climate and to provide space for recreation by enhancing the structure and socioecological multi-functionality of the green infrastructure in the city.

Trees as nature-based solutions are promoted for co-development and co-design to alleviate problems of heat, air pollution and noise in the city in a participatory way.

Green Lungs of The City - Forest and Wetlands Park, Yiwu - Zhejiang Province, China

The aims of the Green Lungs of the City Project are to build a big botanical garden for the city, create a forest-wetlands park and develop an agricultural park for citizens. GLCP uses urban forest and trees, as well as wetlands as Nature-based Solutions to promote the sustainable development of the city and to provide multiple ecosystem services for human beings in a highly urbanised area.

Objectives further include:

Improving the green and blue landscape connectivity in an urbanised area, which is good for biodiversity conservation and water purification

Beijing Plain Area Afforestation Programme (BPAP) - Beijing, China

With the aim to create huge forest patches, develop urban forest park clusters and optimise the large-scale forest patterns, BPAP has proposed green strategies with nine green wedges, multiple greenbelts, and green corridors around the old city centre in Beijing.

Objectives further include:

Improving the forest coverage and urban greenspace connectivity in urbanised areas by planting more than 54 million trees, enhancing biodiversity;

Providing health and wellbeing benefits through the use of the recreation facilities

Enhancement of Cultural Ecosystem Services in the Park Forest Grmoščica - Zagreb, Croatia

With the aim to enhance the management and utilisation of Urban Forests as Natural Heritage in Danube Cities, the URBforDAN Interreg Danube project fosters innovative and participatory approaches to build recreational infrastructure that also serves an educational value.

The management of the Urban Forest area also aims at providing regulating ecosystem services.

Landscape Park Tivoli, Rožnik and Šiška hill – Ljubljana, Slovenia

Branko Čeak – Archive the City of Ljubljana

The Landscape park Tivoli, Rožnik and Šiška hill aims to enhance health and well-being of citizens and visitors while conserving natural values and landscape diversity.

The urban green infrastructure of the Landscape Park area further aims to regulate the urban micro-climate, improving air quality and reducing run-off.

Programme “Baumstarke Stadt” - Leipzig, Germany

The Project ‚Baumstarke Stadt‘ Leipzig aims to generate financial resources to allow tree planting and further to establish a long-term engagement of citizens with the urban green areas they live in. The project, therefore, aims to provide multiple ecosystem services, including regulating, supporting and cultural functions.

Parco Nord Milano – Italy

Provision of recreation and educational facilities for local residents and visitors;
Health and wellbeing benefits gained through the use of the recreation facilities;
Landscape benefit of creating a functional green boundary between built-up areas which acts as a wooded regional park

Bois de Vincennes (Vincennes Forest) - Paris, France

Pollution mitigation (carbon sequestration; microclimate regulation, solution against urban heat island effects),
Biodiversity enrichment (preservation and enhancement of fauna and flora habitats),
Leisure and cultural purposes (recreational value, aesthetic pleasure; sense of place, inspiration) and encouraging citizen’s engagement with local green initiatives.

Fushan Ecological Park – Qingdao, Shandong Province, China

Restoring the Fushan mountain through a Nature-Based Solutions approach;
Improving the landscape connectivity;
Providing a space for the recreation of citizens.

Uforest Case Study: Barcelona Nature Plan

One of the activities foreseen by the Uforest project is researching innovative Urban Forestry initiatives across Europe. For this reason, the Uforest team has selected and analysed some of the most interesting urban forestry projects in the continent, with the aim to illustrate real practices and eventually inspire others to start greening their cities. Among them, we selected the Barcelona Nature Plan.

The Pla Natura Barcelona (Barcelona Nature Plan) is a public initiative led by the Barcelona City Council with the aim to improve and increase...

Uforest Case Study: WOWnature

WOWnature is an initiative powered by Etifor that gives the possibility to adopt and plant trees, with the dual objective of creating new forests and protect...

CONEXUS (6.1) – LISGREEN: re-naturing urban spaces in Lisbon

Urban nature. Credits: Paula Nicolau, 2022.

LISGREEN embodies the following objectives:

To deliver ecological services that improve residents’ quality of life through co-produced NbS;
To generate evidence on the role of active citizenship for integrating green infrastructure into new urban models, promoting both ecological connectivity and social cohesion;
To support NbS policy upscale by introducing nature-based thinking (NBT) in policy design, implementation and evaluation supported by an inter-sectorial, multi-scale, and multi-stakeholders’ approach;
To bring NbS to the centre-stage as a

CONEXUS (6.1) – Restoring, protecting, and maintaining thriving urban forests: three pilots in the city of São Paulo

Green Corridor between Ciência and Consciência Negra Parks. Photo credits: Prefeitura Municipal de São Paulo, 2022.

The main objective of the São Paulo Life-Lab is to fast-forward the urban green transition by harnessing the ecosystem services of urban forests, and while doing so, tackling socio-environmental inequalities through NbS co-creation.

The Life-Lab thus aligns with the wider vision of São Paulo City to promote urban forests as global solutions to climate change and other sustainable development challenges, including with strategic policy agendas like the 'Municipal Plan for Protected Areas, Green Areas and Open Spaces', the 'Municipal Plan for the Conservation and Recovery of the...