WITH urban forestry high on the political and social agenda, the programme for the UK’s foremost international urban trees research conference has been announced, highlighting the critical importance of creating resilient towns and cities with innovative green infrastructure solutions.

Almost 100 papers were submitted to the Trees, People and the Built Environment 4 conference from esteemed academics and acclaimed practitioners from around the globe.

Russell Horsey MICFor, #TPBE4 programme co-ordinator, said: “Due to the quality of submissions, the #TPBE4 Conference Steering Group had an extremely difficult task selecting the final papers to complete the programme for Trees, People and the Built Environment 4. Nonetheless, the final programme will address the conference’s main theme of ‘trees as infrastructure’ and ensure the UK’s foremost international urban trees research conference is a must-attend event for anyone with an interest in urban forestry and green infrastructure.”

The invited speakers will join three renowned experts and keynote speakers:

Yvonne Lynch, a climate resilience strategist who advises governments internationally on urban greening, will talk about shifting perspectives on urban design and planning away from the traditional approaches that have dominated for over a century and how to move them towards a nature-sensitive urban design model.

Ian Bateman, professor of environmental economics and director of the Land, Environment, Economics and Policy Institute (LEEP) at the University of Exeter Business School, will give an overview of the natural capital approach to decision making and how it is the ideal framework for capturing the multitude of values generated by trees and woodland.

Suzanne Simard, professor of forest ecology at the University of British Columbia, is a renowned biologist known for her pioneering research on symbiotic plant communications and complex networks. Professor Simard has appeared on three TED Talks and the Dorcon Film documentary, Intelligent Trees, where she appears alongside forester and author Peter Wohlleben.

The conference at the University of Birmingham takes place on 22 and 23 of April 2020.

For further information and booking visit www.charteredforesters.org/event/trees-people-built-environment-4/.