Developing a Metropolitan-Wide Urban Forest Strategy for a Large, Expanding and Densifying Capital City: Lessons from Melbourne, Australia

Martin Hartigan, James Fitzsimons, Maree Grenfell and Toby Kent
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Martin Hartigan: The Nature Conservancy, Suite 2-01, 60 Leicester Street, Carlton 3053, Australia
James Fitzsimons: The Nature Conservancy, Suite 2-01, 60 Leicester Street, Carlton 3053, Australia
Maree Grenfell: Resilient Melbourne, City of Melbourne, GPO Box 1603, Melbourne 3001, Australia
Toby Kent: Resilient Melbourne, City of Melbourne, GPO Box 1603, Melbourne 3001, Australia

Land, 2021, vol. 10, issue 8, 1-23

Abstract: Urban forests provide many ecosystem services, such as reducing heat, improving air quality, treatment of stormwater, carbon sequestration, as well as biodiversity benefits. These benefits have resulted in increasing demand for urban forests and strategies to maintain and enhance this natural infrastructure. In response to a broader resilience strategy for Melbourne, Australia, we outline how a metropolitan-wide urban forest strategy ( Living Melbourne ) was developed, encompassing multiple jurisdictions and all land tenures. To this end, we mapped tree cover within the Melbourne metropolitan area, modelled potential habitat for some bird species, and investigated the role of tree cover for urban heat island mitigation. We outline the consultation and governance frameworks used to develop the strategy, the vision, goals and actions recommended, including canopy and shrub cover targets for different parts of the metropolitan area. The metropolitan-wide urban forest strategy acts as an overarching framework to guide local government authorities and various stakeholders towards a shared objective of increasing tree cover in Melbourne and we discuss the outcomes and lessons from this approach.

Keywords: canopy cover; vegetation mapping; connectivity; heat mapping; targets (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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