Enhancing Human Well-Being through Urban Forestry: Strategies for Planning, Policies and Management

Dear Colleagues,

Urban forestry provides a wide range of ecosystem services. Through the regulation of ecosystem services, urban forestry can improve an ecosystem’s health by means of “eco-buffering”, such as cleaning the air, managing stormwater, and mitigating heat stress. The cultural ecosystem service of urban forestry can provide urban recreational amenities to encourage physical activities, increase social cohesion, and thus promote physiological and psychological health. Substantial evidence suggests that exposure to urban forestry might be beneficial for promoting health behaviors (e.g., physical activities), and these positive health effects may be amplified during a societal crisis. Hence, enhancing urban forestry exposure was considered as a nature-based solution for advancing urban resilience and human health. However, before urban forestry can be fully integrated into health-oriented planning and policies, comprehensive research that is better aligned with the needs of scientists, environmentalists, epidemiologists, ecologists, urban planners, and policy makers must be conducted.

This Special Issue will provide a comprehensive analysis of the critical role of urban forestry in improving the physical, mental, and social well-being of city dwellers. We seek scholarly articles and in-depth reviews that explore the complex relationship between urban green spaces and public health. Our focus covers a wide range of topics, including the strategic planning and implementation of urban green spaces, the ecological benefits of urban forests, strategies to mitigate urban heat islands, and the socioeconomic impacts of urban greening initiatives. This Special Issue aims to highlight innovative planning and management approaches that capitalize on the health benefits of urban forests, address current challenges such as climate change and rapid urbanization, and ensure equitable access to urban green spaces. By bringing together insights from different academic fields, this Special Issue aims to provide valuable recommendations to policy makers, urban planners, and environmental advocates on how to integrate urban forestry into urban development plans, ultimately improving the quality of life in diverse urban communities.

Dr. Jinguang Zhang
Prof. Dr. Bing Zhao
Dr. Zhaowu Yu
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Forests is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• urban forestry
• green space exposure
• public health
• urban heat islands
• green injustice
• climate change
• air pollution
• ecosystem services
• nature-based solutions
• exposure ecology