Let Vancouver’s Urban Forest be Fungal! : Celebrating the role of decomposition, soils, and fungi in urban streetscapes

Fungi play a critical role in the health of a forest ecosystem by maintaining soil health through successional decomposition. While the public has proven a curiosity about fungi, current municipal design and management of our urban forests neglect to celebrate their importance. This project proposes a neighbourhood-scale strategy, with Vancouver as a global leader, to design and manage streetscapes for fungi by updating operational practices in the boulevard, facilitating engagement with the public, and de-paving a street segment. The project aims to connect people with fungal processes and to improve conditions to sustain a healthy urban forest by celebrating ecological relationships of fungal decomposition.