For humans and more-than-human kin, the urban forest is nature close to home – or home itself. Yet, engagement with and access to the urban forest is unequal. Emerging research often focuses on achieving distributive and procedural access, which begs the question: where does this leave our sense of access? How does it feel to belong in an urban forest feel?

What Baltic Square tells us:

I am the stone, I am a forgotten beer can, a moss, a water droplet

I am the wind, the water, the wind, a cloud

I am forget-me-not, a weed, the grass, the little ant

I am the river, the grass, a spider, a moss 

I am the stone, a pigeon’s feather, the bridge, a seagull

I am wind, a heart shape with eyes and legs, an arugula

I am the cloud, a suitcase, a brown trout

I am the sky, the wind

I am the stone, seagull, the wind, water

I am the clouds, a sticker, the wind

I am a seagull, a wheel, a feather

I am wind, a little grass, a moss

I am the wind

I am the stone

Arboriculturists are key players in facilitating contact between humans and trees in urban environments. This second urban forest story from the annual Arboricultural Association Conference in Warwick, England, shows just how different the human and more-than-human stories can be from day to day.

Arboriculturists are key players in facilitating contact between humans and trees in urban environments. This first urban forest story from the annual Arboricultural Association Conference in Warwick, England, shows just how much our human and more-than-human stories are connected.

Listen closely for the stories hanging from branches, hopping through underbrush and rooting beneath your feet...

A collaborative forest-based story from NightGarden Festival 2024

‘We are leaves / we are nature / we are hugging a tree’

A collaborative more-than-human place-based story from the North East of England

“Here, now, feels not good / it's good / GOOD!!!”

A collaborative more-than-human place-based story from Gateshead Riverside Park

“feels nice / feels familiar / quiet and loud ”

A collaborative more-than-human place-based story from Gateshead Riverside Park

“I am leaves, I like to dance with the wind”

A collaborative place-based story from Gateshead Riverside Park

“I started to feel cold a bit / but not that much / it’s just enough to feel I am here and now ”

A collaborative place-based story from Gateshead Riverside Park

“the tree feels lucky to survive / and on their road to recovery”

A collaborative place-based story from Gateshead Riverside Park

“I am the beginning, the end / I carry the scars of history ”

A collaborative place-based story from Gateshead Riverside Park

A collaborative place-based story from Washington D.C., transcribed here as crafted and captured in place during the 2^nd World Forum on Urban Forests

A collaborative place-based story from Gateshead Riverside Park, transcribed here as crafted and captured in place during the Memory Studies Association 7^th Annual Conference, on Monday 03 July 2023

A collaborative place-based urban forest story from Kraków, Poland

Seated under a sprawling tree, on a teal metal chair at a teal metal table on a flagstone patio, the water swirling in the glass while the sun pushes through the canopy above - this is where I am when I first meet Pigeon.

Answers to Frequently Asked Questions about the Urban Forest Stories sessions

Why do autumn leaves change colour? As days shorten, and night envelopes us earlier each day, I keep finding patches of bright autumn leaves on my way. Where do these colours come from, I wonder, and what might be their purpose, I ponder.

This morning, I heard rivers streaming up and down. Not north to south, but up, towards the sky, and down, into the earth.

If leaves could talk, what stories would they tell?