San Francisco Claims Their Trees:

Across the United States, cities and regions all contend with a host of different environmental elements and human needs. Each city has its own approach to its urban forestry and community involvement, and San Francisco is no different.

Founded about five years ago, an initiative called The Urban Forest Map was created for the residents within San Francisco to take an active part in tallying up and taking inventory of the trees around them.

Their mission statement says, “The Urban Forest Map is a collaboration of government, nonprofits, businesses and you to map every tree in San Francisco…The information we gather will help urban foresters and city planners to better manage trees in specific areas, track and combat tree pests and diseases, and plan future tree plantings. Climatologists can use it to better understand the effects of urban forests on climates, and students and citizen scientists can use it to learn about the role trees play in the urban ecosystem.”

Partnering with this forum is the San Francisco Department of Public Works. The department holds meeting open to the public nine months out of the year, and provide online records of all concerns discussed.

With this sort of accountability and freedom to offer input, the Urban Forest Map was created to help, “provide a one-stop repository for tree data, welcoming information from any agency or group and enabling and celebrating citizen participation.”

Hand in hand with the Urban Forest Map initiative are the Friends of the Urban Forest, an organization founded almost four decades ago as a response to cut fundings for the urban forest. Since then FUF has, “developed a dedicated Tree Care program led by an ISA-certified arborist….[and]  launched its Youth Tree Care program (now called Green Teens), one of the nation’s few paid urban forestry vocational skills training programs.”

As we strive to take a more active approach in our urban forests, knowledge is power, and technologies are constantly created, updated and improved to tell us more about the trees we integrate into our cities’ landscapes. An essential part of the success of these initiatives is the support and participation of the local inhabitants. It’s time to grow our environments.

Entire forest to be built in Singapore high-rise apartment atrium:

Green Heart, in Singapore’s Marina One, is set to be a green space like never before. Including a multi-level public garden, calming waterfalls, reflecting pools, and a dense web of lush trees, this massive 376,000-square-foot project will be a one-of-a-kind green urban space when it’s officially launched in 2016.

The brainchild of German studio Ingenhoven Architects and Singapore A61, construction of Marina One began in 2012. The work has since been handed over to landscape architecture firm Gustafson Porter, which is now converting the space into Singapore’s largest green urban sanctuary – with four high-rise apartments already surrounding the space.

Pathways and ponds will blend seamlessly into the surrounding business district as a way to complement the existing green spaces of Gardens by the Bay, a 101-hectare park of reclaimed land that sits beside Singapore’s Marina Reservoir.

Curving balconies will resemble traditional Asian rice terraces, with additional plant beds scaling the facade, culminating in lofty “cloud forests” above.

A triumph in green urban design, Green Heart will set the standard on a scale never seen before. “The planting is designed to create inspiring and multifunctional urban spaces to be enjoyed by all in Singapore,” Gustafson Porter told De Zeen magazine.

Image courtesy of M+S Pte Ltd.