Industry
Fact-checked

At AboutMechanics, we're committed to delivering accurate, trustworthy information. Our expert-authored content is rigorously fact-checked and sourced from credible authorities. Discover how we uphold the highest standards in providing you with reliable knowledge.

Learn more...

What is Urban Forestry?

Diane Goettel
Diane Goettel
Diane Goettel
Diane Goettel

Forestry is the science of managing forests, plantations of trees, and related natural resources. Some people consider it to be as much of an art as it is a science. Urban forestry is the management of trees within urban spaces. Many cities have green spaces such as small parks or areas of trees that line streets, recreational areas, and monuments. Urban forestry is a kind of forestry that focuses on the location and maintenance of such trees. There are many types of people who participate in, support, or help to plan urban forestry. Such people include city planners, environmental policymakers, and arborists.

Because tree populations in urban landscapes are exposed to elements much different than those that are in the wild, it is important that they are carefully managed and tended to. Furthermore, people who focus on the importance of urban forestry are often concerned with how the trees improve the surrounding environment just as much as they are concerned with how the trees must be protected within the surrounding environment.

Urban forestry is used to improve community green spaces.
Urban forestry is used to improve community green spaces.

Trees can provide many benefits within urban areas. First of all, it is well known that trees and other plants are excellent at cleaning and refreshing the air. Air in urban areas, which is often tinged with vehicle and factory emissions to name just a few pollutants, can be greatly improved by the presence of trees. Furthermore, trees and plants help to naturally cool the air and the earth. This can be a great benefit. Cities are generally made mostly of steel, concrete, asphalt, and glass which reflect and conduct heat. Trees can help to make cities in hot climates and cities in climates with hot summers much more bearable during warm weather seasons.

Urban forestry helps in the creation of green spaces for residents.
Urban forestry helps in the creation of green spaces for residents.

Because cities can be such harsh environments, trees that are planted therein must be tended, otherwise they may wither and perish. One of the key elements in urban forestry is making sure that trees in urban spaces are planted in soil of acceptable quality and that they have enough space for their root systems to grow. Just as trees must have enough space for their roots to grow, they must also have enough space for their canopies. This means that trees must have enough overhead space so that their branches can extend and reach the sunlight that they need to thrive.

While those who practice urban forestry certainly have many challenged to face, it is clear that the challenges are worth the benefits. Trees and plants in urban spaces are wonderful environmental investments.

Diane Goettel
Diane Goettel

In addition to her work as a freelance writer for AboutMechanics, Diane is the executive editor of Black Lawrence Press, an independent publishing company based in upstate New York. She has also edited several anthologies, the e-newsletter Sapling, and The Adirondack Review. Diane has a B.A. from Sarah Lawrence College and an M.A. from Brooklyn College.

Learn more...
Diane Goettel
Diane Goettel

In addition to her work as a freelance writer for AboutMechanics, Diane is the executive editor of Black Lawrence Press, an independent publishing company based in upstate New York. She has also edited several anthologies, the e-newsletter Sapling, and The Adirondack Review. Diane has a B.A. from Sarah Lawrence College and an M.A. from Brooklyn College.

Learn more...

Discussion Comments

bythewell

@browncoat - It is amazing all the different factors that need to be taken into account when it comes to forestry in an urban environment.

For example, I always wondered why more fruit trees weren't planted in urban areas in order to provide fruit for people who lived there.

With people always complaining about the price of fresh food at the supermarket, it makes sense to me for them to stick a few apple trees in different neighborhoods and let people pick their own.

But, I hadn't considered the fact that a lot of fruit would end up rotting on the ground, which would require cleaning, and could attract unwanted insects and so forth.

Urban planners need to take that into consideration.

browncoat

@indigomoth - It must take quite a lot of planning to keep the urban trees in Wellington from damaging the buildings and the roads. I know that pohutukawa trees are from New Zealand and I believe there are quite a few in Wellington.

Those trees are notorious in the USA.

They were planted quite freely in San Francisco, since they are lovely, large trees with bright red flowers in the summer, and, more importantly, they grow well near the ocean and in a temperate climate.

But, after about 20 years they had to dig them all back up again. They hadn't planned for the fact that pohutukawa have large, strong surface roots which are more than capable of breaking through concrete.

The trees were smashing through all the sidewalks they had been planted to shade. This was a case where more planning should have been done in the city's urban forestry program.

indigomoth

When I was visiting Wellington in New Zealand a while again, I climbed to the top of Mt. Victoria (which is a very tall hill near the city) and was amazed by how many trees are visible in the city.

They had a little bit of information about it up there as well.

Apparently when the city was founded, they decided to declare large tracts of forest in the hills surrounding the area as being protected.

This was partly to improve the quality of the air and partly to drive up property prices.

The air quality was particularly important for the people of that day since they had just lived through the industrial revolution and wanted to make sure that Wellington did not end up with the same quality of air that major European cities suffered from.

It was an ingenious thing to do, really, since it is still a gorgeous and green city.

Post your comments
Login:
Forgot password?
Register:
    • Urban forestry is used to improve community green spaces.
      By: espion
      Urban forestry is used to improve community green spaces.
    • Urban forestry helps in the creation of green spaces for residents.
      By: Jacek Chabraszewski
      Urban forestry helps in the creation of green spaces for residents.
    • City foresters may decide where new trees should be grown and when old ones should be cut down.
      By: SophySweden
      City foresters may decide where new trees should be grown and when old ones should be cut down.
    • Forestry is the science of forests, trees, and similar natural resources.
      By: TreePhoto
      Forestry is the science of forests, trees, and similar natural resources.