When does a tree become more than wood?

“What is a tree?” The question is not as easy to answer as you might think. But what did we ask it to begin with? The Technical and Environmental Administration has experienced a rise in the citizens’ interest in trees, and wanted to know why, and more importantly; how to react to it.

It’s no coincidence the administration is experiencing a rise of interest in trees. Our common interest and values towards trees and urban nature is nurtured by several mega trends such as urbanisation and climate change.

Trees are symbols of our common past, our future, and of something wild and uncontrollable in the middle of the planned city landscape. But not all trees hold so much meaning. A tree is not something that just is. It’s something that becomes over time. We build relationships to trees through seeing them every day on our way to work, or through our children playing in and around them. Through this relationship, the trees gain a personality of their own. They almost become social beings, that hold value in themselves.

When a tree is cut down, we need to regain the value we have lost. Not by replacing it with several trees, but by replacing the value that was lost. If it is a tree children have been playing in, it won’t be enough to plant a new tree, as it does not embody the same qualities. But if the old tree is transformed into playground facilities, the actual value of the tree is retained.

Discovering discourses and tree qualities through ethnographic methods.

We talked with Copenhageners about what a tree is to them and got all the stories of the important trees. We used walk-and-talk as a method of talking about different trees in the city, their qualities and values. We also interviewed the personnel of the administration of Technical and Environmental Affairs of Copenhagen to understand how they prioritize and talk about trees when planning the infrastructure and green elements of the city.

We developed deep insights about how the citizens perceive trees in the city as well as communicated certain tensions between the logic of the municipality and the citizens, resulting in a communication tool to minimize conflicts.

This provided the administration of Technical and Environmental Affairs of Copenhagen with an understanding of, why the citizens show interest in certain trees and why some even protest about timber felling. Finally, we created a communication tool for the personnel to use when making decisions about timber felling. The tool guided them in, how they should approach and communicate to the citizens to avoid conflicts.