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As part of a dedicated event series, the Branching Out project convened researchers, policymakers, and community members across three cities in the UK—Cardiff, Milton Keynes, and York. In this final panel, the project sought to share results more widely to help demonstrate their applicability. The discussions emphasized the need for proactive governance and the role of urban treescapes in enhancing community wellbeing.
Urban treescapes refer to the collection of trees found throughout our cities, including everything from individual street trees to larger urban forests.
These trees play a crucial role in our communities, offering various benefits that impact both social life and the economy. Plus, the way we manage these green spaces can significantly shape urban planning and design.
The Branching Out project explored urban treescape governance through a key event: the Panel of Panels, held on 28 January and 4 February as part of the Future UK Treescapes Program. These gatherings assembled end-user panellists, citizen panellists and experts in tree research and management to address the integration of trees’ social, cultural and economic value into urban planning.
Many UK local authorities have declared climate emergencies, increasing tree planting efforts. However, these initiatives often overlook the significance of existing trees, leading to conflicts within communities. The project aims to shift governance toward a proactive approach, where community voices are central to tree management decisions.
To achieve this, the event included expert presentations, discussions on citizen involvement and an overview of the project’s findings.
The event showcased the project’s interdisciplinary approach, incorporating environmental science, social science, arts and humanities, and economics to emphasize trees’ multifaceted value. Beyond their ecological role, trees hold immense cultural and social significance while contributing to net-zero targets and biodiversity conservation.
The discussions highlighted how trees shape daily life, mental and physical wellbeing and neighbourhood identity. Project participants from Cardiff, York and Milton Keynes shared personal stories, reinforcing that trees are more than just greenery – they serve as cultural and emotional landmarks. A key issue raised was the reactive nature of tree management, where social and cultural values are often considered only after conflicts arise, such as tree removals or urban development projects. The event encouraged urban planners, policymakers and environmental groups to integrate these insights into decision-making frameworks, ensuring local voices shape urban greening strategies. The project drew on storytelling activities to create a narrative of the future treescape for each city, illustrating the outcomes that local people prioritise and the actions that need to be taken to achieve them.
Using citizen storytelling and spatial mapping techniques, the research team explored whether personal and community connections to trees could be represented geographically. Findings showed that larger, older trees were valued for their history and symbolism, while trees in parks and near homes were essential for wellbeing and social interaction. Mapping this value could help urban planners prioritize tree protection and planting. The technique provided a tangible way to integrate public sentiment into urban planning decisions while validating citizens’ lived experiences and strengthening tree advocacy efforts. Although it is difficult to capture all social and cultural values – such as the significance of trees as memorials or landmarks and the personal connections individuals may form with them for various reasons – but this serves as a starting point for engaging community voices.
This project also examined the financial value of trees using the Capital Asset Value Method (CAVAT), which assesses a tree’s worth based on factors such as size, species, condition, cost of replacement and ecosystem services like flood prevention. CAVAT-baseline has been used to assess over 400 000 trees in Milton Keynes. However, the team recognized that CAVAT alone does not capture trees’ full social and cultural importance. To address this, they recommend developing a remote sensing adaptation of CAVAT, enabling a large-scale assessment of a city’s tree canopy. This approach integrates remote sensing data with storytelling initiatives to map and highlight social and cultural value tied to particular tree characteristics or locations.
By integrating these approaches, the project aims to identify areas where tree cover – and its financial and socio-cultural benefits – require attention, ultimately supporting more effective urban planning and management.
The panel also explored Chat with Trees (or ChatGPTree), developed by the University of York. This AI-powered provocation asks users to converse with trees and prompts them to reflect on their own relationships with trees and urban greenspaces. The design intervention aims to provoke questions about how technology (and AI in particular) might encourage community engagement in tree conservation. Access to the ChatGPTree feature is via a QR code associated with specific trees in various locations at time limited public engagement events, where users can have live chats with the trees. The panellists praised it as an innovative way to foster greater public involvement in urban treescape discussions and deepen connections between people and trees.
During the Panel of Panels, several common themes emerged:
The Branching Out project has made significant strides toward inclusive tree governance by bringing together citizens and decision-makers. The panel featured insights from experts including Alice Goodenough and Julie Urquhart (Future of UK Treescape), Alison Dyke and Joanne Morris (Stockholm Environment Institute at the University of York), Debbie Maxwell (University of York), Michael Wilson (Loughborough University), Janice Ansine and Philip Wheeler (Open University), Hannah Walker (Forest Research), and Joseph Fennell (JF Scientific).
The challenge ahead is ensuring these insights translate into adopted pathways for long-term community involvement in urban treescapes. With continued collaboration, research, public engagement and citizen science, urban trees will not only survive but thrive, serving as vital social, cultural and ecological assets for future generations.
The “Branching Out” project is a research initiative focused on understanding and valuing urban trees’ social and cultural significance in the UK. It recognizes trees as more than just environmental assets; they are also integral to the social and cultural fabric of urban communities.
Visit the Branching Out story map to learn more about new ways of mapping, predicting, and communicating social and cultural values to support robust, evidence-based decision-making and management.
Project / Novel methods to map the social and cultural value of trees to inform policy decisions regarding urban treescapes.
Journal article / Researchers developed a method for quantifying the social and cultural values of treescapes, creating a composite measure which can be used by policymakers.
Feature / A study by SEI York PhD student Ying Wang shows that spending time in natural environments in childhood leads to more attachment to these environs in adulthood.
Feature / Explore SEI’s latest research, tools and initiatives in response to SDGs 12, 13 and 15 on responsible consumption and managing forests.
