All posts by Sara Barron

Week Thirteen

The term has gone by so quickly! On Tuesday, we will have our last lecture. We will also have some time to go over the final assignment requirements and give you a few minutes to discuss your final presentation preparations as a group.

Group presentations begin this Thursday, March 30 and continue on Tuesday, April 4 and Thursday, April 6. We ask that each of you attend class to listen to all of the presentations and arrive on time to avoid interrupting your classmates. As part of your participation, you will provide feedback to the members of another group; please be kind and considerate with your comments.

There are still a few questions about how the assignment works. We are asking for a single 12-slide presentation from each five-person group. The first two slides will give a general outline of your designs for your site, and the key concepts/themes/ideas that directed your decisions. These two slides should be prepared as a group. The next 10 slides will be made up of five sets of two slides representing each group member’s individual component. Please stick within these limits.

Much of your grade will be determined through your presentation, but we are also asking you to submit a one- to two-page individual summary after your presentation as well. This written component is designed to allow you to respond to feedback you received during the presentation and to provide additional description about what you included in your two individual slides.

We hope you are enjoying the project and are looking forward to seeing the final results!

Week Eleven

This week’s lecture provided a history of urban forests and human well-being from a Western perspective. The weekly reading is a review article by Catharine Ward Thompson titled “Linking Landscape and Health: The recurring theme”

On Thursday, we will move our class to the BC Hydro decision theatre on the main floor of the CIRS building at 2321 West Mall. Directions to the room are here, and will also be given during Tuesday’s lecture. We will provide maps and trace paper. Please work within your groups to figure out who can bring pencils, markers, and anything else you think you might need to start working on your site together.

An overhead shot of UBC's Rose Garden on an overcast day, looking across to the mountains on the North Shore

Welcome to UFOR 200!

Urban Forestry 200 provides an introduction to the various human health benefits provided by urban forests. The course will explore basic relationships between urban residents’ health and well-being and surrounding urban forests. Referring to the most common health issues of today, the course will demonstrate why urban forests are crucial public health assets of our cities.

Through both lectures and seminars the course will address the theoretical context of relationships between nature and human health; explore the scientific evidence on physiological and psychological effects of nature exposure; outline contemporary public health issues and challenges; and demonstrate how various pathways, such as increased physical activity and improved air quality, can result in health benefits from urban forests. The course emphasizes the value of working across sectors, with a focus on the connections between urban ecosystem functioning and human health over the life course.

Course Syllabus – 1-17