Urban Forestry

Celebrating World Environment Day
Commemorate the 51st World Environment Day with this curated list of Planetizen articles highlighting research and projects that promote a healthier, more sustainable world.

Planting Trees Where They are Most Needed
Recently, the U.S. Forest Service awarded over $1 billion in competitive grants to expand equitable access to trees and their benefits. Grantees include Los Angeles County and TreePeople, who are working to plant trees where they are most needed.

Expanding LA's Urban Forest
The County of Los Angeles Chief Sustainability Office is leading the effort to prepare the county's first Urban Forest Management Plan.

The Benefits of Trees
In addition to all the economically valuable services they provide, trees are beautiful as pure aesthetic objects and a welcome presence in any landscape.

The Promise of Urban Food Forests
Planting food-producing trees can offer both shade and a source of healthy foods in concrete-dominated neighborhoods.

Los Angeles Seeks Public Input for Urban Forest Plans
The County and City of Los Angeles are working together on community engagement efforts for their Urban Forest Management Plans (UFMPs).

Dallas City Council Approves Urban Forest Master Plan
The plan seeks to mitigate the effects of urban heat islands by preserving and growing the city's tree canopy.

Urban Forestry Plans Obstructed by Urban Development Plans in D.C.
Growth and development are the biggest obstacles to Washington, D.C.'s plans to add more than 10,000 trees every year over the next 25 years.
Silo-Breaking Sustainability or Real-Life Lorax: L.A.’s First City Forest Officer
The city of L.A.’s first city forest officer, Rachel Malarich, opines on her new role in facilitating cooperation between the city’s departments to achieve a more equitable urban canopy.

L.A.'s Strategy for 'Safe, Mobile, and Sustainable' Streets
Streets LA General Manager Adel Hagekhalil lays out his priorities and plans for transforming Los Angeles into a system of world-class streets.

Urban Forestry Managers Need Better Climate Change Data, Report Says
Results of a new survey suggest that there are benefits to be reaped from a focus on climate change.

Using Artificial Intelligence to Measure Urban Tree Canopies
Machine learning has opened a new frontier in urban forest management.

Dallas Considers a Major Revision to its Tree Ordinance
Neither environmentalists nor developers like the city’s current regulations around tree removal, but there is praise on both sides for the “smart and nimble” new version.

Louisville's Tree-Protection Plan in Final Revisions
Faced with a costly urban heat island effect, Louisville is working on a new tree-protection ordinance that could be headed for a vote this week.

Urban Forestry in L.A. Explained
Los Angeles County has inventoried their trees and devised a strategy for fostering an urban canopy. Park planner Clement Lau explains.

6 Ways Urban Renewal Misses the Livability Mark
Despite spending millions on urban renewal projects, municipalities often miss a common group of opportunities to make their communities more livable and walkable, according to William Adams, a San Diego-based land use attorney.
How Los Angeles' Urban Parks Battle Climate Change
An overview of how Los Angeles County’s Department of Parks and Recreation is creating projects that tackle the effects of climate change, by planner Clement Lau.
The New Promise of Urban Ecology
Courtney Humphries takes a look at recent federal investment in research on the complex interrelationship between human settlements and the natural environment.
In SF, Guerrilla Grafters Remix Urban Farming
"It's like the gardener's version of graffiti," says one. In San Francisco, activists hope to transform once-purely ornamental street trees into fruit-bearing ones, to provide fresh fruit to the local community.
How to Combat Urban Heat Islands
Cities consistently experience higher temperatures than the surrounding countryside due to the 'heat island' effect. With global warming exacerbating these effects, cities are trying to lower local contributors to urban heat.
Pagination
City of Madera
City of Santa Clarita
Borough of Carlisle
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
Chaddick Institute at DePaul University
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
Colorado Energy Office
Pima County Community College District
City of Piedmont, CA
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.