Blueprint for Innovation in Urban Forestry

The main objective of this report is to provide an initial framework for assessing the factors that drive innovation in urban forestry. Through the analysis of 20 case studies of urban forestry best practices across the EU, the report offers an overview of urban forestry innovation in Europe. This document will feed into the urban forestry advocacy and dissemination activities of the UForest project, with the aim of spreading knowledge about the potential of urban forests as nature-based solutions (NBS) for cities.

The analysis of the case studies suggests that innovative approaches to urban forestry can optimise the delivery of ecosystem services while addressing local environmental and social challenges from a multidisciplinary perspective. However, further work is still needed to explore innovation in urban forestry, scale up initiatives of this kind, strengthen collaboration across disciplines and among stakeholders, and facilitate the co-creation of knowledge.

Finally, the report suggests that urban forestry should go hand in hand with entrepreneurship, exploring new sectors and forms of collaboration to create new opportunities.

Citation

Pino, J., Florido, F., O'Driscoll, C., Doimo, I. and Konijnendijk, C. (2022). EU Innovation Blueprint: Analysing factors influencing innovation within urban forestry. Erasmus+ project UForest, Deliverable 3.3: EU Urban Forestry Blueprint. ISBN 978-8894337839.