Urban Forests:The ecosystem value of trees in cities.

Friday October 23rd 10am-1pmWood Quay Venue, Dublin City Council Civic Offices

More than 75% of Europe’s population live incities, which are places where radicallandscape change has replaced naturalsurfaces with impermeable paving andbuildings and where human activities thatgenerate pollution are concentrated. Greeninfrastructure (parks, lawns, trees, etc.) canoffset many of the undesirable aspects ofurban environments and is increasinglyintegrated into city planning.

Trees in particular provide a host ofenvironmental functions including shade, windcontrol, air quality, carbon sequestration,noise control, hydrological management andbiodiversity. In addition they have been linkedto improved health and well-being. On theother hand, if not managed, they can damagepavements and buildings and disruptunderground pipes and networks.

This event focusses on the population of treesin cities that comprise an urban forest. Itprovides a introduction to a collaborativeproject on Mapping Dublin’s Tree Canopy; thepartners include UCD (Geography), Dublin CityCouncil, Fingal County Council, South DublinCounty Council, Dun Laoghaire-RathdownCouncil and the Office of Public Works. Theoutcomes of the project will provide abaseline that will allow us to estimate theecosystem services provided by Dublin’sforest, compare ourselves to other cities andinfluence strategic management of thisresource. More information on the project canbe found at the project website(https://dublintrees.wordpress.com/), which isstill being developed.

Space at this event is limited and those interested should register with

michael.brennan@ucd.ie.

SpeakersChristy Boylan is currently Secretary of the EuropeRegion at World Urban Parks and is a recipient oftheir Distinguished Individual Award. He was theSenior Parks Superintendent in South Dublin CountyCouncil.

Gerald Mills is a lecturer in Geography at UCD andis currently president of the Geographical Society ofIreland. His research focus is on the climates ofcities and their role as drivers of local, regional andglobal climate changes.

Johan Östberg is a researcher and lecturer at theSwedish University of Agricultural Science (SLU). Hiswork focusses on urban forestry and theopportunities and the problems this can cause, andhow municipalities and other organizations best canmaintain the urban trees.

David Nowak is a research forester with the USDAForest Service in Syracuse, New York. His workinvestigates the make-up of vegetation in cities andquantifies the benefits provided by urbanvegetation to the environment, the economy andhuman health. His work has been instrumental inthe development of the i-Tree software suite, aninternationally recognised tool set enabling citymanagers to measure the value of their urban treestock.

Schedule

10:00 Opening: Dr Christy BoylanGreen infrastructure in cities

10:30 Dr. Gerald MillsMapping Dublin’s tree canopy.

11:00 Dr. Johan ÖstbergUrban forests: A European perspective

12:00 Dr. David NowakUrban forests and their ecosystem services