Urban ElemenTREE
Data-driven approach and management platforms as the basis for the smart development of the urban tree canopy
- Category
- Project
- Call
- DUT Call 2023
- Duration
- –
- Project coordinator
- Gdańsk University of Technology
Planting trees in urban areas is a promising intervention for enhancing environmental quality and providing essential ecosystem services. Nevertheless, this approach encounters multiple constraints related to the scarcity of space, high costs, and the often challenging conditions reducing the longevity of trees. In addition, inconsiderate planting initiatives may lead to unintended adverse effects, demonstrating that the notion of “tree planting is good” is overly simplistic.
To achieve meaningful and sustainable outcomes, urban decision makers, planners, and other stakeholders require tools that enable evidence-based strategies, maximising environmental and public health benefits, ensuring cost-effectiveness, and supporting the long-term vitality of urban trees. This is a demanding task, as interactions between trees and the built environment are highly complex and difficult to predict. Latest promising research addresses aspects such as air pollution, wind risks, lighting conditions, heat stress, or soil contamination, but the fragmented findings must be integrated and translated into actionable guidance.
Urban ElemenTREE addresses the above challenges with a multidisciplinary, multi-actor approach by integrating new research with existing evidence, local knowledge, and cross-comparison, as well as extensive new data collection through simulations and measurements using cutting-edge tools and techniques. The project establishes Urban Living Labs in five European cities, in Gothenburg, Aarhus, Gdańsk, Antwerp, and Florence, each characterised by distinct environmental and spatial conditions. These labs facilitate the collection and integration of comprehensive evidence, enable comparison of different urban green space planning practices, and help build common ground across disciplines and areas of expertise.
The initiative brings together scientists from diverse backgrounds, working in close collaboration with practitioners and decision-makers. It will advance current methods for tree-related environmental monitoring, modelling, and digital surveys. In turn, this will allow faster, more accurate, and more efficient investigation of the complex interactions between trees and the urban built environment.
The main outcome of Urban ElemenTREE will be a systematic, integrated, and evidence-based approach to the smart development of urban tree canopies, ensuring more sustainable tree planting and fostering regenerative urban neighbourhoods. A range of emerging methods and innovative techniques will be adapted (such as ground- and UAV-based low-cost sensing, performance-driven simulations, and street-view-based estimations), supported by spatial and landscape analysis and citizen science, and benchmarked against advanced methods including laboratory analyses, high-resolution LiDAR, and high-end simulations. This approach will deliver standardised, integrated protocols for studying tree–environment interactions, providing the foundation for more tailored strategies in tree planting and maintenance.
In addition, Urban ElemenTREE will develop an online platform for managing the urban tree canopy. This platform will provide digital models and comprehensive tree metrics, enabling practitioners to optimise urban planning and design through the effective use of trees.
Belgium
Denmark
Italy
Poland
Sweden
Arkitektskolen i Aarhus, Dacsystem Spolka Z Ograniczona Odpowiedzialnoscia, Danmarks Tekniske Universitet, Fundacja oo Get There, Stiftelsen Fraunhofer-Chalmers Centrum för Industrimatematik, Universita Degli Studi Di Firenze, Universiteit Antwerpen
Aarhus Kommune, Beheersmaatschappij Antwerpen Mobiel, Comune Di Firenze, Gmina Miasta Gdanska, Goteborgs Kommun, Hartill Trädexpert AB, Metaheritage Srl, Vlaamse Milieumaatschappij
Contact
Joanna Badach
joanna.badach@pg.edu.pl