Urban Forestry - management of urban forests and trees

A city without forests and trees is an unsustainable city! Therefore we need Urban forestry i.e. the art, science and technology of managing trees and forest resources in and around urban community ecosystems for the ecological, sociological, economic, and aesthetic benefits trees provide society. The course integrates the fields of landscape architecture, forestry and ecology – all in an urban and peri-urban context - through collaboration between the department of Landscape Architecture, Planning & Management and the Southern Swedish Forest Research Centre. The course provides students with knowledge and skills for multiple-use planning and management of the urban tree resource, emphasizing social, cultural, economic and ecological perspectives. Focus is on urban wooded areas but many links to the other parts of cities’ tree populations (such as park and street trees) are also included. The course offers theoretical and practical knowledge on how to link environmental aesthetics, socio-cultural values and biodiversity through design, planning and management of the urban forest. Lectures are combined with excursions, seminars and exercises – and in all of these the different backgrounds of both students and teachers are seen as an educational asset. A main real-life case-study runs throughout the whole course. The main case-study will train students in how to develop and communicate a multiple-use management plan for an urban woodland park.