Earthwatch Europe's Tiny Forests initiative brings the benefits of woodland into dense urban areas, reconnecting people with nature, enhancing wellbeing, mitigating climate change impacts, and providing rich habitats for urban wildlife. Hammersmith and Fulham was the first London borough to plant a Tiny Forest and now hosts four, with plans to implement six more by 2030.
Recently, students from the Bartlett School of Planning’s Sustainability, Resilience, and Climate Change module, led by Professor Lauren Andres, participated in the Tiny Forest Picnic at Eelbrook Common. During the visit, they conducted measurements with the Earthwatch team and presented a set of innovative greening, flood adaptation, and educational strategies to Hammersmith and Fulham Council. These strategies aim to increase environmental awareness, reduce climate risk, and improve resource accessibility. The students' work applies their knowledge of developing and implementing policies and projects for urban sustainability and resilience, with a focus on addressing and tackling climate change.
For the past three years, students in Professor Andres' module have collaborated with Hammersmith & Fulham Council and their Climate Engagement and Behaviour Change Lead, Bartlett School of Planning alumnus Mark Thomlinson, to develop Planning for Climate Change Policy Blueprint Guides targeting specific priority areas.
Mark said:
This collaboration between UCL and the Council enables students to get stuck into a topic that also brings benefits to colleagues working in those areas. The students have provided another perspective to our work with insights from other contexts that have been really helpful to incorporate into our thinking".
For the students, this experience was highly beneficial in developing new skills that they can immediately translate into practice.
Tom Gedye, a student studying Sustainable Urbanism MSc, said:
Compared to other university work, it was nice to engage with an actual real-life project, getting to do hands on work and site visits and interact directly with council peopleCompared to other university work, it was nice to engage with an actual real-life project, getting to do hands on work and site visits and interact directly with council people.
Vassiliki Tamvaki, also studying Sustainable Urbanism MSc, said:
Engaging with the tiny forests of Hammersmith and Fulham, gave us the opportunity to research environmental sustainability in a policy-level, but also through planning and forestry. The group’s diversity of disciplines and perspective is what gave such a holistic view to the whole project and made it interesting!
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