Urban Forests as a nature-based solution (UF-NBS)

The Sino-European CLEARING HOUSE project (http://www.clearinghouseproject.eu) looks into using urban forests and urban trees as nature-based solutions. During the presentation, we will highlight some outcomes of the project that is ending February 2024.

The project has been developing an innovative typology for urban forests as nature-based solutions, based on an Ontology Web Language (OWL) approach. OWL allows for the combining of aspects of use, form, function, composition, and surroundings into one typology. The typology will be supporting decision-support tools for planners and managers of urban green space, the Spatial Impact Assessment and Classification tool (SIAC).

Another highlight of the project is the education package “City of Trees” that immerses teenagers (10 to 14 years old) in the world of urban trees and urban forests. In contrast to other education packages that focus on learning about nature, this package is learning with nature, and integrates nature in several other subjects.

A governance analysis, based on 22 case studies, highlights barriers and facilitating items for urban tree-based sustainable urbanisation. A societal survey in China and Europe has indicated that most citizens do visit urban forests and parks, and that ecosystem disservices related to urban forests and urban trees are important only to a minority of the respondents.

Finally, the presentation will look ahead into upcoming tools and outputs by the project, including:

• guidelines on planning, designing, and managing urban forests and urban trees as nature-based solutions, including stakeholders and transforming institutions into more tree-friendly organisations;
• the SIAC tool that will allow for a comparable assessment of UF-NBS and an assessment of the tree-based benefits;
• the Spatial Information and Knowledge Hub (SIK hub), an interactive web-based application synthesising the CLEARING HOUSE findings.