Towards an integrated research approach for urban forestry: the case of China

Abstract In the Anthropocene, natural resource management approaches, including forestry, have been incorporating cross-disciplinary, multi-functional, and highly technological endeavors. Urban forestry has emerged as a way of adapting natural resource management to city settings. Here we propose a research agenda for more integrative urban forestry with due consideration to forest, landscape, and ecosystem dimensions. We further offer a “two-pronged” pathway of emerging technologies related to assessing and understanding urban forest ecosystems. Specifically: 1) spatial-level techniques, which include assessment of forest canopy, understory, and belowground functions; and 2) organism-level techniques involving micro-, meso-, and macro- components of forests. We demonstrate this approach with an empirical case study describing China’s current experience with urban forestry approaches. In China, urban forestry has developed rapidly during recent years, incorporating several fundamental principles and adopting a wide range of emerging technologies. Applying the results of this case study in China will help advance modern urban forestry across the globe, and may inspire urban forest researchers, decision makers, and practitioners.