Research
Understanding the Public Value of Trees outside Woodlands: Peri-Urban and Rural (ToWPUR)
Research Status:current
OverviewThis project will gather evidence to better understand the social and cultural value of Trees outside Woodlands in peri-urban and rural areas (ToWPUR). ToWPUR make up almost one fifth of tree cover in Great Britain yet remain an understudied part of English treescapes.
The England Tree Planting Programme (ETPP) looks set to dramatically change the rate of woodland creation and expansion in coming years. By addressing the evidence gap around social and cultural values and ToWPUR, this research will support the ambitions of the ETPP while feeding into a variety of policy aims relating to the societal benefits and impact of tree-planting and management.
This project is part of the Nature for Climate Fund.
Our interdisciplinary scoping study embraced the range of social sciences which engage with the social and cultural values of nature, as well as consideration of the arts and humanities.
This resulted in:
Working with an external contractor to develop a series of outputs which both consider how social and cultural values of ToWPUR are reflected in the arts and how the arts influence social and cultural values of ToWPUR.
Development of an interactive and accessible guide to understanding and working with ToWPUR in policy, practice and research settings. This drew on learning from an expert workshop, as well as previous scoping activities.
Drawing on ideas from our Project Advisory Group and the scoping work, we identified 3 empirical research projects and associated methodologies:
Data collection for each of these is now underway. This project is set to finish in March 2025.
DEFRAA secondary analysis of data from an online, UK representative survey, in-depth interviews and photo elicitation was used to investigate the terms people use to describe trees and places with trees, the importance of trees to perceptions of naturalness and nature connection, and whether trees were associated with greater wellbeing.
A photo essay based on interviews with 16 arts and humanities practitioners and academics, focusing on their relationship with Trees Outside of Woodland. Key themes that emerge include childhood memories and experiences, emotional connections and the interconnectedness of humans and nature.
This work helps us to understand the overall value of our treescape, in which non-woodland trees play a critical role. We define non-woodland trees as single trees in urban and rural places, groups of trees covering less than 0.1 hectares, and small woods covering less than 0.5 hectares.
How do contemporary Great British attitudes to urban trees vary between locality, individuals and communities with different socio-demographic backgrounds? Forest Research aims to investigate this through a rapid evidence review, a national questionnaire and a series of focus groups.
This page summarises findings and recommendations from a Forest Research study into how participation in woodland events and activities generates cultural value. The study also reviewed how woodland stakeholders measure this value and how it influences their plans and decisions.
Senior Social Scientist
Behavioural Scientist
Social Scientist