CLEARING HOUSE started by reviewing the existing literature and knowledge on urban forests as nature-based solutions (UF-NBS) in Europe and China. An analysis of 22 case histories in Europe and China demonstrated the importance of urban forests in practice. In both China and Europe, there seems to be room for more active civic engagement in planning, funding and implementation of UF-NBS. There is a need to explore alternative economic and business arrangements. A Europe- and China wide representative survey towards perceptions regarding UF-NBS confirmed that most people (>90%) appreciate urban forests and the benefits these provide. Contrasting with general believes, less than 10% of the respondents indicated that ecosystem disservices – such as nuisance caused by falling leaves or uprooted pavements – are important to them.
A new typology for UF-NBS has been developed, combining form, physical perspectives, function and institutional perspectives. This typology lays the foundation for a trait-based approach of perceptions and use of urban forests by citizens, relying the benefits provided by forests and trees on the characteristics of urban green space and its users.
Next, a GIS analysis mapped the UF-NBS potential in the European cases, and compared this to the broader regional and national forest availability. A qualitative in-depth analysis looked at communalities, differences, and challenges in the case studies. These include densification; land development; renaturing cities; fragmentation through infrastructure; institutional silo thinking; challenges related to stakeholder and public involvement; diverging scales, resources (HR, financial) and timelines between ecosystem processes versus administrative and policy process timelines.
Five local co-design workshops in Barcelona, Brussels, Gelsenkirchen, Halle-Leipzig and Krakow, one Chinese co-design workshop and a joint Sino-European co-design workshop have shaped the research questions for the comparative research phase of the project. This analysis deepened the understanding on the role of urban forests and urban trees in Europe and China, and provided input for the CLEARING HOUSE tools, developed for cities, landscape architects, developers, urban planners and others to support the conservation, restoration and development of urban forests and urban trees as nature-based solutions in our cities and towns. These tools - introduced in a webinar - include
1. MyDynamicForest – a flexible platform to collect localised citizens’ perspectives on, and use of urban forests for providing nature-based solutions, and linking this to the characteristics of and opportunities provided by urban green spaces.
2. SIAC – a Spatial Impact Classification and Assessment tool – a Q-GIS plugin to asses local urban forest conditions and tree-cover related benefits, aligned with IUCN’s Urban Nature Indexes.
3. SIK-Hub – the Spatial Information and Knowledge hub – a benchmarking tool to compare UF-NBS in different settings. The tool is useful for facilitating communication, collaboration and knowledge exchange or dissemination.
Local authorities, civic organisations, consultancies and others interested can consult the four CLEARING HOUSE guidelines on planning, managing, public engagement and institutional aspects of UF-NBS.
An inspirational-educational package to UF-NBS to teenagers (10 – 14 years) has been developed, aiming at learning with nature, taking advantage of nature and trees as green learning environments. This package has been implemented in schools in Belgium and Spain.
CLEARING HOUSE has been tapping into the broad public support for urban forests, illustrated by the 30.000 unique website visitors, and over 3.000 social media and newsletter followers (Weibo, WeChat, X, LinkedIn, Instagram). A video series and the #HugATree awareness raising campaign have been organised. Over 3.000 people watched one or more of the webinars.
CLEARING HOUSE contributed over 80 scientific articles, book chapters or books. Over 500 people attended the scientific seminars and science-policy events organised by CLEARING HOUSE in Brussels, GuangZhou, Krakow and Washington DC.
