42 civic engagement in the study, management, and care of trees in cities, towns, and communities— which we refer to as civic science in urban forestry. REVIEW OF KEY TERMS AND CONCEPTS Public engagement in the science and manage- ment of natural resources has received tremen- dous attention in the ecology, conservation, and sustainability literatures. We offer definitions of several relevant terms in Table 1, while recogniz- ing that many different definitions of these terms have been articulated with meanings that have evolved over time. These terms also overlap with various other concepts, such as community-based monitoring, participatory action research, and public participation in scientific research (Kindon et al. 2007; Minkler and Wallerstein 2008; Con- rad and Hilchy 2011; Shirk et al. 2012). Many of these approaches can be characterized as civic science for sustainability, with common threads of enhancing public participation and representa- tion of marginalized voices, as well as democrati- zation of the scientific process (Bäckstrand 2003). Broadly speaking, these civic science approaches attempt to move past conventional ways of con- ducting resource management and scientific research, which typically have top-down hierar- chical structures that do not involve communi- ties (Bäckstrand 2003; Berkes 2009; McKinley et al. 2013). Concepts such as co-management and community-based natural resource management originated in rural landscapes—recognizing the value of partnerships between local communities and government agencies to do science and manage landscapes—and have evolved to be applied in the urban realm as well (Koontz et al. 2004; Fortmann 2008; Berkes 2009; Burch et al. 2017). In addition to co-management, scholars have demonstrated the diversity of governance arrangements that support urban forests (Lawrence et al. 2013). Participatory research approaches from public health and human geography, such as community-based participatory research and participatory action research, empha- size that researchers and community members are engaged in a process of co-learning and coopera- tion with genuine partnership and power-sharing that leads to both knowledge co-production and real-world action (Israel et al. 1998; O’Fallon ©2018 International Society of Arboriculture Roman et al.: Civic Science in Urban Forestry: An Introduction and Dearry 2002; Pain 2003; Kindon et al. 2007; Minkler and Wallerstein 2008). The participa- tory research approach emphasizes community engagement throughout all stages of the research process, from defining the problem through col- lecting data, interpreting results, and translat- ing the findings into action (Israel et al. 1998). Recent literature on community engagement in urban forestry has focused on networks of urban environmental stewardship, participatory plan- ning, and civic ecology. Many cities across the United States and around the world have set goals to expand and enhance their urban tree canopy and have invested in green infrastructure as a part of sustainability and resilience plans (Schäffler and Swilling 2013; Young and McPherson 2013; Kim- ball et al. 2014; Young et al. 2014; Norton et al. 2015; Hauer and Peterson 2016; Campbell 2017). In some cases, particularly in European examples, these sustainability and greening efforts are under- taken as participatory planning endeavors that engage the public in shaping the planning and management of urban greenspaces (Van Herzele et al. 2005; Janse and Konijnendijk 2007). Gover- nance of urban ecosystems occurs across sectors and scales, via collaborative ties and polycentric, networked flows of information and resources (Connolly et al. 2013). As such, in addition to the actions of municipal agencies and private land- owners in managing the urban forest, community- based groups and non-governmental organizations have a key role to play in civic stewardship of these resources (Svendsen et al. 2016). These stewards engage in conservation, management, education, advocacy, transformation, and monitoring of the urban environment (Svendsen and Campbell 2008; Fisher et al. 2012). Civic stewards’ involvement in environmental monitoring is connected to the pre- viously articulated traditions of public participa- tion in scientific research (Silva and Krasny 2014) and citizen science (Bonney et al. 2009), as well as action research for the environmental health of urban communities, such as “bucket brigades” that detect and report on local environmental quality (O’Rourke & Macey 2003; Corburn 2005). Schol- ars writing about co-management and civic ecology have emphasized the ways that community engage- ment in natural resource stewardship can foster social learning (Berkes 2009; Tidball et al. 2010).
March 2018
| Title Name |
Pages |
Delete |
Url |
| Empty |
Search Text Block
Page #page_num
#doc_title
Hi $receivername|$receiveremail,
$sendername|$senderemail wrote these comments for you:
$message
$sendername|$senderemail would like for you to view the following digital edition.
Please click on the page below to be directed to the digital edition:
$thumbnail$pagenum
$link$pagenum
Your form submission was a success. You will be contacted by Washington Gas with follow-up information regarding your request.
This process might take longer please wait
