Building Tomorrow's Urban Landscapes: the promise of Urban Forestry

Almost 10 years have passed since the publication of the FAO Guidelines on Urban and Peri-urban Forestry. Over the past decade, urban forestry has emerged as a cornerstone of sustainable, resilient, and inclusive city development. Once seen largely as aesthetic or recreational, urban trees are now recognized as critical green infrastructure. This presentation traces the transformation of the urban forestry sector between 2015 and 2025—driven by climate urgency, public health needs, technological advances, and social equity movements—and outlines projected developments through 2035. Key drivers of recent progress include international frameworks such as the UN Sustainable Development Goals, the Paris Agreement, the Convention on Biological Diversity, and the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration. Nature-based thinking has elevated the strategic value of urban forests in addressing urban heat, biodiversity loss, water regulation, and psychological well-being. Technological tools like GIS, LiDAR, and i-Tree have facilitated better data-driven urban forest management, while initiatives like Tree Cities of the World and FAO’s Green Cities have helped standardize global best practices. Looking ahead, urban forestry will be increasingly shaped by smart city integration, predictive analytics, and regenerative design. Urban forests are expected to play a growing role in carbon accounting, public health policy, and climate finance. In the Global South, urban forestry will be a vital tool in managing rapid urbanization, heat stress, and social inequity, especially when paired with food-producing green spaces. This presentation highlights how urban forestry can simultaneously advance biodiversity, climate mitigation, and social justice when supported by strong policy, community engagement, and international collaboration. As cities confront 21st-century challenges, urban forests offer a tangible, scalable, and equitable solution to building greener, healthier urban futures.