Cultivating Shade: Policy, Planning, Design and Activism for Geneva’s Urban Forest
Urban forests are fingerprints for our communities. They have much to tell us about the history of city-building, the legacy of race and class prejudice in planning and development, and our ideas about access to nature and the designed landscape. They are also the vital infrastructure of our future, providing tools to mitigate and adapt to a changing climate and to shape healthier civil societies.
This course will take a deep dive into the mechanisms of urban forest planning and design, with Geneva, Switzerland as its primary case study. There, civic leaders are already planning for the future, aiming to leave a better city for the next generation of citizens. They have committed to activating the urban forest to improve health and civic life, adapt to climate change, enhance biodiversity, and shape economic development.
This project-based seminar will guide students toward a working knowledge of all aspects of contemporary urban forest planning. It will develop materials and methodologies that focus specifically on the city of Geneva and its larger canton and will result in an actionable report on the future of Geneva’s urban forest. An option studio will follow in Fall 2025 that builds on the outcomes of the seminar and pursues detailed design opportunities shaped by the seminar.
This seminar will begin with an analysis of how comparable cities have undertaken forest planning and how they have defined approaches to directed action in the public and private sector. We will then focus on determining the vectors of influence that have resulted in the urban forest Geneva has today. Finally, we will project forward, proposing potential mechanisms and strategies to guide its evolution. Planning, design, planting and soils technology, community engagement and education, and government policy and economic incentives will all be considered.