Urban Forests as Critical Infrastructure: A Nexus for Climate Resilience and Sustainable City Management

Urban forests—comprising parks, street trees, green corridors, and peri-urban woodlands—are essential for sustaining ecological integrity and improving quality of life in cities. As urbanization accelerates, particularly across the Global South, cities face intensifying challenges: rising temperatures, air pollution, water stress, and biodiversity decline. Urban forests mitigate these pressures by providing vital ecosystem services such as heat regulation, carbon storage, and psychological restoration. Yet in many low- and middle-income countries, rapid urban expansion, land conversion, and inadequate policy protections place urban forests at acute risk. Urban forests are often viewed as expendable in the face of development pressures, rather than as climate-smart infrastructure.

This Research Topic addresses the growing crisis of urban forest degradation, particularly in cities of the Global South, where development often outpaces environmental regulation. In many such contexts, urban green spaces are shrinking, are subject to fragmentation, or are poorly managed, despite their critical role for urban resilience. Climate-related vulnerabilities—extreme heat, flooding, and air pollution—are disproportionately affecting marginalized populations, many of whom live in areas with limited tree cover or access to green infrastructure.

This Research Topic seeks to reframe urban forests as foundational to just, resilient, and sustainable urban transitions. By showcasing interdisciplinary, context-specific research and innovations from the Global South and beyond, we aim to position urban forestry as a keystone strategy for meeting the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement.

We aim to examine the drivers of urban forest loss, as well as the institutional, socio-political, and financial barriers to effective urban forestry governance in diverse urban settings.

This Research Topic invites contributions that explore inclusive, scalable, and nature-based solutions that recognize urban forests as both ecological lifelines and socio-political assets. Particular attention will be given to approaches that integrate local knowledge, community participation, and justice-oriented frameworks into urban forest conservation and planning. By connecting research to action, the Research Topic will provide support in aligning urban forestry strategies with SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities), SDG 13 (Climate Action), and SDG 15 (Life on Land), and contributing meaningfully to Nationally Determined Contributions under the Paris Agreement.
We invite interdisciplinary contributions that engage with urban forestry in policy, practice, and theory, with a strong emphasis on cities of the Global South and climate policy frameworks. We welcome submissions that address:

1. Urban forests as climate solutions: their roles in climate adaptation, mitigation, and resilience planning

2. Equity, access, and justice: spatial and social disparities in urban tree canopy and green space access

3. Governance and policy innovation: multi-level, cross-sectoral governance for green infrastructure

4. Community stewardship and indigenous knowledge: co-management, local practices, and participatory restoration

5. Urban forest regeneration: ecological restoration, reforestation, and biodiversity conservation in cities

6. Tools and metrics: innovative mapping, monitoring, and modeling of urban forests using digital technologies

7. Economic valuation and financing models: cost–benefit analyses, green bonds, and ecosystem service valuation

8. Urban forestry in post-disaster and conflict-affected cities: rebuilding green infrastructure for resilience



Manuscript types suitable for this Research Topic include:



Original Research (quantitative, qualitative, or mixed methods)

Review Articles and Systematic Reviews

Policy and Practice Briefs

Perspective and Opinion pieces

Methods and Data Reports

Case Studies from cities with innovative, inclusive urban forestry practices

Keywords: Urban forestry, sustainable forest management, green city, urban green space, green infrastructure, climate resilience

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.