In 2006, the U.S. Forest Service implemented performance measures to evaluate urban forestry management in communities in each state. The Forest Service implemented these measures under its Community Accomplishment Reporting System (CARS). To achieve four CARS measures that pertain to management, communities must have a management plan, professional staff, tree ordinances, and an advisory or advocacy organization. It is unclear whether attaining the CARS measures reflects the status of the urban forest itself. We analyzed street tree inventories from communities in Massachusetts that met the CARS measures. We considered the net gain or loss in the number of street trees in 2007 and cost-benefit analyses from the Street Tree Resource Analysis Tool for Urban Forest Managers (STRATUM). We analyzed the diversity of street tree populations. We used a correlation analysis to discover associations between these variables and both community demographic measures and qualification of the urban forester managers. Thirty-three communities met the CARS measures and 9 had active street tree inventories. Fewer than half of the communities planted more trees than they removed in 2007. Planting and removal activity increased with tree budget. Cost-benefit analysis showed that for 8 of 9 communities with inventories, benefits of street trees outweighed the cost of management. Community population was associated with trees planted, trees removed, and tree budget. Demographic measures were not associated with tree performance. Tree warden certification did not impact tree condition or diversity, however non-certified tree wardens planted trees at a higher rate than non-certified tree wardens. Tree budgets were higher for communities with certified arborists and for communities with inventories used for management. Results serve as a baseline for future study of the impact of the CARS measures on street tree populations in Massachusetts.

Urban trees provide a wide array of benefits and values for urban dwellers as a foundational part of the biodiversity, the generation of ecosystem services and mitigation of negative impacts of climate change. However, management in cities often fail to acknowledge the diversity of ecosystem services in urban landscapes needed for improving resilience. Through interviews with actors managing tree communities within the city of Stockholm, along with a review of municipal policy documents, this study explores the qualities, values and benefits, focusing on biodiversity, ecosystem services and climate change adaptation, that are considered when making decisions about tree management. The interview results and policy documents were analyzed using an analytical framework for three different phases of management: (i) goals, (ii) strategies and measures and (iii) monitoring and evaluation. Most of the actors to some extent consider biodiversity, ecosystem services and climate change adaptation through ecosystem services in management. The strategies of including a more diverse set of values and benefits are still in its early stages, which is reflected in a low degree of strategical work, lack of clearly defined goals and limited operationalization of the concepts, and few actors work with monitoring and evaluation. However, more aspects of biodiversity and ecosystem services are gaining attention within management, and there is an ambition to incorporate such values to a greater extent.

Current global agricultural practices are recognized as unsustainable. The increase in overall human population as well as the global trend of rural to urban migration, partially as a result of historically and continual unsustainable agricultural practices, exacerbates the vicious cycle of poverty and hunger in developing countries. Furthermore, cities and regions in developed countries practice unsustainable food production, distribution and consumption patterns, and as a result, exceed their global ecological footprint (Rees 2009). Consequently, the world is facing a global food (FAO 2009) and water crisis (UN Sick Water 2010). Cities and Regions must learn to feed themselves to address local food insecurity as well as protect from the climate effects of increased urbanization, including the Urban Heat Island effect (UHIe) by optimizing and fully integrating the local ecosystem services of food, water and forest within a tightly woven compact urban form through the implementation of strategic urban and regional food system planning. Cities can mitigate climate change and reduce the UHIe, by implementing sustainable intensive urban agriculture approaches through policy and zoning interventions that include concepts such as intensively productive urban agriculture that includes green roofs, vertical farming and greenways as continuously productive and edible urban landscapes, referred to in this paper as continuously productive urban agriculture and forestation (CPUAF) in the private and public realm. A highly participative, adaptive systems approach is explored as the key to sustainability within an economic world order that included corporate social responsibility and social enterprise as the foundation for the integration of multiple synergies. An increasing body of evidence often links urban forestation with urban greenery initiatives, as a carbon sink to reduce UHI effects, to reduce GHG emissions and as a tool for urban beautification and place making (ISDR: 2009,109). Urban agriculture, through the production of local food is increasingly recognized as a means to reduce fossil fuel emissions by reducing transportation and production outputs, to provide a secure local food source, enhance biodiversity and educate the public regarding food source while fostering a sense of community, environmental awareness and stewardship. This thesis explores the links between intensive urban agriculture and forestation, and the relationship between climate change, and the UHI’s as an adaptation and mitigation process in global cities, implemented as a interconnected, integrated, holistic urban management approach that has a further benefit of providing food security and a sustainable and local urban food source. / Dissertation (MTRP)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Town and Regional Planning / unrestricted