Urban Forestry Research Group
Urban greenspace forms an integral part of the urban fabric. Its planning, design and management are a critical focus for urban administrations, professionals and academia. The Urban Forestry research group is a cluster of researchers working to develop climate-proof, livable and nature-friendly urban environments through fundamental and applied research.
Urban Forestry is an emerging discipline focussing on the planning, design and management of greenspace at various scales, from the elemental scale of woody plants to the arrangement scale of (wooded) gardens, streets, squares and parks, the ensemble scale of wooded spaces in the urban district, to the network and system scale of green-blue infrastructures in the city and urban region. Urban Forestry aims to address contemporary challenges such as climate adaptation, social interaction, health & well-being and biodiversity in novel and creative ways. The group focusses on a number of key themes within this scope including Urban Forest Care, Performative Tree Architecture, Urban Forest Syntax, Data and Tools such as i-Tree, Mobile Forestry, History of the Urban Forest and Forest Urbanism.
Several key projects have been initiated by the group in recent years, such as the Urban Climate Arboreta project on the relationship between tree architecture(s) and heat stress mitigation. This project has since developed into a follow-up set of projects around Urban Forest Care such as the Bos-op-Poten project, and the i-Tree 2.0-NL project to develop advanced metrics and tools for cooling cities with urban forestry. The group has also initiated the Atlas of Tree City Holland project to map the cultural-historical, socio-spatial and bio-physical dimensions of the urban forest in lowland cities. With European partners and the European Forestry Institute, the group contributes to the BioCity of the Future initiative, where the concept of Forest Urbanism plays a central role.
The group also collaborates with the Urban Ecology Lab on the ECOCampus project, which aims to develop a sustainable TU Delft campus in the coming years. A key project in this collaboration is the Urban Climate Grove. Since the spring of 2020, the Urban Forestry group have been researching the relationship between tree architecture and urban microclimate and developing metrics on how 'cool' different trees species actually are. Of the 75 trees established in above-ground planters, 25 trees will find a permanent home on the faculty forecourt in this project. We will continue our research and innovation around climate adaptation (thermal and hydrological) but also collaborate with the Urban Ecology lab team to investigate what kinds of biodiversity can be developed in this situation, from sub-surface to canopy.
The Urban Forestry group is composed of researchers from the Faculties of Architecture & the Built Environment (Sections Landscape Architecture, Environmental Technology, Spatial Planning and Strategy and Urban Studies), Industrial Design Engineering (Department of Design, Organization and Strategy) and Civil Engineering & Geosciences (Section Materials and Environment).
More information
For more information: visit the Urban Forestry and bos-op-poten websites.