Young urban trees as important structures in the cultural heritage of cities – a case study from Prague

Rudl Ales, Machar Ivo (), Uradnicek Lubos, Praus Ludek and Pechanec Vilem
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Rudl Ales: National Heritage Institute, Valdštejnské náměstí 162/3, 118 01 Praha 1, Czech Republic; ORCID iD: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0511-2338
Machar Ivo: Department of Development and Environmental Studies, Faculty of Science, Palacky University, Str. 17 listopadu 12, 771 47Olomouc, Czech Republic; ORCID iD: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1885-7032
Uradnicek Lubos: Department of Forest Botany, Dendrology and Geobiocoenology, Faculty of Forestry and Wood Technology, Mendel University in Brno, Zemedelska 1, Brno, Czech Republic; ORCID iD: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2491-1322
Praus Ludek: Department of Wood Science, Faculty of Forestry and Wood Technology, Mendel University in Brno, Zemedelska 1, Brno, Czech Republic; ORCID iD: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9541-7532
Pechanec Vilem: Department of Geoinformatics Palacky, Faculty of Science University, Faculty of Science, Str. 17 listopadu 12, 771 47Olomouc, Czech Republic; ORCID iD: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6728-6646

Environmental & Socio-economic Studies, 2019, vol. 7, issue 3, 14-23

Abstract: Urban trees generate numerous ecosystem services, and these are often closely associated with the species, age and size of trees as well as with their vitality. Generally, the focus of urban and regional planning is aimed at very large trees, because very large trees are considered to be key green structures in an urban green infrastructure. However, there is a significant knowledge gap related to the importance of young trees in cities, despite their value in urban green spaces, greenways, parks, gardens, urban forests, and as components of green roofs and green walls. This study is the result of field mapping young trees in the urban area of the famous European historical city of Prague. Field mapping revealed a total of 40 individual young trees, or young tree groups, with cultural value in the study area of Prague. The results of this empirical study indicate that young trees (not just very large and old trees) can be very important structures for the provision of cultural ecosystem services in cities, and that they can be viewed as living cultural symbols. This is a new aspect in the awareness of the environmental and social roles of urban trees. This case study from Prague suggests that (i) young trees in urban areas need more attention from researchers and (ii) should be incorporated into urban planning as an important component of urban green infrastructure.

Keywords: cultural ecosystem services; heritage trees; tree as a living cultural symbol; urban green infrastructure; very large trees (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:vrs:enviro:v:7:y:2019:i:3:p:14-23:n:2

DOI: 10.2478/environ-2019-0014

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