citree Research Partners
CHAIR OF FOREST BOTANY
The classification of trees and shrubs according to their habitus, morphology and risks in urban habitats are main objectives of the forest botany working group. The specifications of habitat and climatic requirements and the adverse effects will lead to a qualified classification of the desirable but also undesirable characteristics of trees and shrubs for their suitability in different urban areas. The theoretical results will be verified on the base of physiological measurements (leaf gas exchange rates, leaf-water potential, chlorophyll fluorescence). Simultaneous measurements of microclimatic parameter e.g. air temperature and relative humidity help to quantify the influence of urban green on people and life.
Project lead
Project staff
Department Forest Biometry and Systems Analysis
This institute is going to devise a classification for environmental conditions influencing trees’ vitality and identify specific requirements for urban tree population. Tree architecture in different growth stages of selected species will be characterized and used as a tool to predict long-term tree development.
Furthermore, the data of the different academic fields dealing with various aspects of urban green will be connected. The synthesized results are used for the setup of the software tool for the selection of trees in urban areas. The information of the integrated properties such as location, tree species and preference characteristics considers different user requirements and their approaches to solutions of conflicting interests.
Project staff
Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Technological Development: Environmental Psychology
In this work package, we focus on the subjective perception and evaluation of urban green spaces. We examine the preferences which affect the acceptance of urban green spaces in general and single tree species in particular. In a first step, we identified which tree characteristics matter in human perception and how they influence preferences. In a next step, the mediating psychological variables will be investigated. On this basis, we devise a categorization of urban green spaces which considers perception and evaluation as well as actual usage and reasons for visiting urban green spaces.