CommuniTree Freising: Participatory urban forests as green islands and their significance for urban society (CommuniTree)
CommuniTree Freising is a research and transfer project. The Weihenstephan-Triesdorf University of Applied Sciences, the association Rekultivistas e.V. and the city of Freising are working together on how cities can develop visible, species-rich and permanently unsealed green structures in a short space of time. The approach combines concrete implementation in urban areas with scientific monitoring: measures are not only implemented, but also systematically documented, evaluated and translated into transferable recommendations.
Many cities are facing major challenges such as climate change, biodiversity loss and declining quality of life. Medium-sized cities in particular often lack the resources and routines needed to consistently drive forward transformation processes. At the same time, medium-sized and small cities offer special opportunities: thanks to a better overview and leaner administrative structures, changes can often be initiated and implemented more quickly. This is precisely where CommuniTree comes in, combining social research and innovative participation formats to record and expand multifunctional urban forests together with citizens. Urban forest is understood as the entire tree-based green infrastructure of the city, from the individual tree to the urban forest.
Implementation
The implementation follows a clear project logic: participation, network development, visible measures and scientific evaluation are interlinked.
In the first project phase, an inner-city area on the Wörth was developed together with local residents in workshop and design formats, then unsealed and greened in a climate-friendly manner. This has created a concrete location that shows how administration, science and civil society can act in a coordinated manner. At the same time, a resilient network of stakeholders from the city, urban greenery, the University of Applied Sciences, associations and urban society has been established, enabling and accelerating further measures.
A central project goal is not to stop at a single area, but to make the process scalable. To this end, potential areas are identified in close cooperation with the city and assessed on the basis of transparent criteria. The idea of systematically developing areas and linking them to a comprehensible evaluation framework is thus being implemented in practice: as a cooperative process that can be connected to the community, which enables real implementation and is documented in a comparable manner.
In the second phase of the project, further potential areas will be examined together with the city and the original idea of a Tiny Forest as a mini forest will be taken up again in order to visibly expand the urban forest in the city. The implementation is specifically interlinked with teaching at the University of applied sciences: students plan and implement the next steps as part of the participation module and thus make a central contribution to the transfer. At the same time, Rekultivistas e.V. strengthens the anchoring in urban society through public relations work, mobilization, sponsorships and participatory formats around actions in urban space. In this way, the project combines scientific validation with concrete urban development and long-term community responsibility.
Goal
Monitoring, interviews and the evaluation of the participation formats create a reliable basis for determining which instruments work in practice instruments work in practice, how acceptance is generated, what obstacles arise and what framework conditions municipalities need to implement more urban green to implement more urban green. The results are incorporated into a practical guide and the final report. the final report. The experiences in Freising will thus become a blueprint that can also be used by other cities and municipalities.
More information and current dates can be found on the project page at Rekultivistas e.V
Publications
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Conference contributions
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Talks and presentations
