Urban forests provide a wide range of essential benefits. Current global challenges, such as climate change, environmental degradation, and the COVID-19 pandemic, have resulted in increased awareness of the importance of urban trees and green spaces.

While situations will always be complex and different, and guidelines are not written in stone, we would like to argue for a new rule of thumb for urban forestry and urban greening: the 3-30-300 rule. This rule focuses on the crucial contributions of urban forests and other urban nature to our health and wellbeing, as well as climate change adaptation. It also recognises that we have to consider many different aspects of the urban forest in order to be successful. It also addresses the need for urban forests to percolate into our living, working, and living environments. At the same time, it is straightforward to implement and monitor – and easy to remember. The rule of thumb provides clear criteria for the minimum provision of urban trees in our urban communities:

• 3 trees from every home
• 30 percent tree canopy cover in every neighbourhood
• 300 metres from the nearest public park or green space

The 3-30-300 Program

To better implement the 3-30-300 concept in your city, region, organisation or business, we will offer an on-line program that discusses the concept in-depth and explains the different metrics and the evidence behind them. The program will be led by Professor Cecil Konijnendijk van den Bosch, who, together with leading experts from the field, will give clear examples and recommendations on how the 3-30-300 concept can be implemented – and how it is being used already.

During the program you will learn from leading international experts:

• More about the overall concept and the evidence and arguments supporting it.
• How to successfully plant trees in urban environments, thereby achieving the goal of seeing at least 3 trees from every home.
• How to measure and increase tree canopy cover to reach the goal of at least 30 percent canopy cover at the neighbourhood level.
• Why parks and green spaces are essential for our health and wellbeing, and what we can do to optimise these benefits, including how to reach the goal of having a high-quality green space or park within 300 meters form people’s home.

The course will be held on several occasions (days and times) so that people from around the world can participate!

Registration and pricing

The program runs twice on March 1st 2022.

• First session is held between 9AM-12AM UTC+1, register HERE
• Second session is held between 5PM-8PM UTC+1, register HERE

To make sure participants from all over the world are able to participate we present our fair-pricing-concept. The fee for the live online program is 195€. We offer lower, subsidised fees for colleagues in developing or emerging countries ranging from 50-95€.

The full schedule can be downloaded HERE

We are looking forward to seeing you at the program!