New routes for impacting policy around the social and cultural value of urban trees
Initially compiling results from the three Branching Out case cities, we developed a rapid assessment approach to ‘horizontally port’ results to two replicator locations: Edinburgh and Camden. Horizontal portability allows the transfer and adaptability of research rather than generalisation, helping decisions to be location and context-sensitive whilst building on existing data.
We created a user-friendly online assessment tool to enable local decision-makers to develop treescape visions that integrate the complex social and cultural values associated with treescapes in their specific locations and into decision-making.
We delivered workshops and citizen panels to test, validate and refine their tool by ‘porting’ sociocultural values data to Camden and Edinburgh. We then delivered training and dissemination workshops to equip decision-makers with the necessary skills to apply the tool.
Prof Jasper Kenter, Aberystwyth University