Trees for hotter cities: new approach can bolster community input in meeting targets

The skyline of London rising above a thick canopy of trees.

Efforts to plant more trees in cities could be boosted thanks to a new tool for planners and community groups, published by an international group of researchers.

Residents, policymakers and tree-officers in Cardiff, Milton Keynes, Edinburgh, York and Camden worked with academics to develop new advice to grow trees in a way that benefits both people and nature.  

Trees in urban areas are increasingly recognised as important for tackling climate change, improving biodiversity, and supporting health and wellbeing. They also help cities adapt to rising temperatures: providing shade and reducing exposure to extreme heat. 

The UK Government has a target to increase tree planting to 30,000 hectares per year as part of efforts to tackle climate change and biodiversity loss. 

The new free-to-use tool, Tree Value Visions, aims to support councils and communities in thinking about the future of trees in towns and cities in a more inclusive way. It also includes a free online training course available from The Open University. 

By identifying priority actions that meet multiple needs, the tool encourages local authorities to integrate the wider importance of trees in people’s everyday lives across different policy areas, such as housing, transport and climate resilience.  

The research, published in the peer-reviewed journal npj Urban Sustainability, suggests that spending and planning decisions often focus on measurable benefits such as carbon storage or the visual impact, but give less attention to deeper connections people have with the natural world. 

The new Tree Value Visions tool seeks to address this by using four future visions of urban treescapes. These explore different ways of thinking about trees in cities: as a defining aspect of place, as a set of resources, as part of ecological systems and as part of shared communities between people and trees. 

Loughborough University researcher Dr Angelika Zimmermann, Reader in International Management in the Loughborough Business School and co-investigator on the project, said: “This research, which builds on the work of the Loughborough-led ‘Branching Out’ project, has made me even more aware of how central trees are, not only for ecosystems but also for the people within them. Tree Value Visions will help create better futures for both. 

“The tool is designed to identify local communities’ specific priorities and solutions. It will help local authorities make inclusive and resource-efficient decisions on their existing and future urban treescapes.” 

A series of sketches depicting elements of the new tool.
Sketches from the Tree Value Visions tool. Illustrations by Helen Panayi.

Project Lead Professor Jasper Kenter, a Research Fellow in Deliberative Ecological Economics at Aberystwyth Business School, said: 

“Urban treescapes are not just environmental systems, they are places where people live their lives, form memories and build relationships. They shape how communities experience their neighbourhoods, from everyday travel and leisure to longer-term connections with nature and place. 

“Our new tool helps bring those experiences into decision-making, alongside environmental and economic considerations. It is designed to support more inclusive discussions about the future of urban trees and to encourage communities and policy makers to think about how we live from, in, with, and are part of, nature in cities.”

A glass building reflecting sunlught with a tree growing alongside it.

Representative groups of residents in several UK cities, including Cardiff, Milton Keynes, Edinburgh, York and Camden, have helped develop and test the tool to identify priorities and potential actions for improving their local treescapes. 

The research builds on the IPBES Values Assessment, an international framework that highlights the different ways people value nature. The work was based on a collaboration between Aberystwyth University, Loughborough University, the University of York, The Open University, Forest Research, the Stockholm Environment Institute, and Ecologos Research, supported by the Local Government Association, the London Borough of Camden, City of Edinburgh Council, and international authors from Washington State University and the University of Oregon. 

It was funded by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), the Welsh Government, the Scottish Government and the Forestry Commission through the Future of Treescapes Programme.