Arboriculture & Urban Forestry 48(2): March 2022 Arboriculture & Urban Forestry 2022. 48(2):45–48 https://doi.org/10.48044/jauf.2022.004 URBAN FORESTRY ARBORICULTURE Scientific Journal of the International Society of Arboriculture & The Emergence of Smart Urban Forestry: Challenges and Opportunities in the Digital Age By Sophie Nitoslawski and Cecil C. Konijnendijk The past couple of years have proved exceptionally challenging for urban professionals and practitioners, as cities around the world faced a pandemic and sub- sequent demand for and pressure on green spaces (Venter et al. 2020), all the while dealing with extreme climate events. The impacts of the climate crisis par- ticularly came to the fore in the summer of 2021. Western North America and other parts of the world experienced dangerous and unprecedented heat waves (Berardelli 2021; Cappucci 2021). Wildfires raged in Northern Africa and Southern Europe (Chow 2021). Intense flooding caused major destruction in Western Europe and China (Hassan 2021). These events are inextricably linked to policy and manage- ment decisions related to urban trees and forests; not only is urban vegetation affected by climate change, but it also contributes to mitigation and adaptation efforts and provides essential, varied, and wide-ranging benefits to urban populations (Brandt et al. 2016). It is also becoming clear that this age of the Anthro- pocene will be a digital one. Research in earth sci- ences, ecology, and conservation has suggested that shifts towards more ubiquitous digital practices in recent years are occurring to support environmental data collection, monitoring, and management practices— and (urban) forestry is no exception (Arts et al. 2015; Zou et al. 2019; D’Urban Jackson et al. 2020; Salam 2020; Nitoslawski et al. 2021). In the urban context, smart-cities research has evolved to not only focus on technological applications, but also reflect on the importance of social capital, equity, and ecosystem resilience to support truly sustainable cities (Colding and Barthel 2017; Trencher 2019; Yigitcanlar et al. 2019). Green infrastructure and urban forests, along with their associated benefits for urban citizens, will no doubt feature prominently in these discourses. The increasing interest in digital and remote applications in urban landscape management, likely accelerated by the pandemic, is engendering questions about var- ied roles and emerging applications for digital tech- nologies and smart-city approaches to enhance arboriculture and urban forestry practices (Nito- slawski et al. 2019; Goddard et al. 2021; Prebble et al. 2021). In order for these knowledge gaps to create opportunities instead of barriers for practitioners, more research and dialogue is needed to understand relationships between people, trees, and technology. Ultimately, arborists and urban forestry practitioners will increasingly be called upon to address complex and multifaceted problems in cities. In the wake of COVID-19, and in the throes of the climate crisis, urban trees and forests are being recognized as crucial com- ponents of healthier, more resilient, and more equita- ble urban ecosystems (Endreny 2018; Derks et al. 2020). As researchers and practitioners in these fields, we will by necessity take on the roles of futures think- ers, strategists, collaborators, and leaders prepared to engage in experimental and adaptive practices— many of which will involve new and emerging data, tools, and methods at our disposal. This will require the expansion of our knowledge base on the opportuni- ties and limitations of implementing these technologies. OVERVIEW OF THE SPECIAL ISSUE This special issue of Arboriculture & Urban Forestry addresses current knowledge gaps by exploring how the planning, design, management, and use of urban trees, urban forests, and green infrastructure can be ©2022 International Society of Arboriculture 45
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