The digitalization of urban forest management

New and advancing digital tools not only change how urban forest data is generated, stored, analyzed, and visualized, these tools also reshape the meaning and management of urban forests. To understand how, we conducted semi-structured interviews with 63 urban forestry practitioners in 21 cities across four U.S. states. We analyzed the types and applications of digital tools used in urban forestry management and the ways in which managers use digital tools to address challenges in their daily work. Our findings show that digital tools play a significant role in the co-production of urban forests by directly and indirectly affecting the value of trees as city assets, which also gives trees more equitable standing among other non-human urban structures. Digital tools are widely used in both small and large cities to inventory and assess urban forests, but large cities have greater access to digital tools and capacity to employ them to more diverse ends. As a result, digital tools reinforce disparities that favor well-funded programs over smaller, technologically marginalized programs. In conclusion, this paper offers an empirically grounded account of how digitalization informs the management and interpretation of urban forests within broader smart city and digital governance contexts.