Encouraging residents’ stewardship of street trees in Australia’s capital city, Canberra

In Canberra, Australia’s capital city, an urban forest strategy was introduced to foster the role of urban forests as nature-based solutions to climate change. One of its goals is to engage residents in the stewardship of neighbourhood street trees, which requires an understanding of residents’ perceptions of and attitudes towards street trees and their willingness to play a stewardship role. This research explores these issues for Canberra residents who engaged with the pilot Street Forestry Program and considers implications for initiatives encouraging stewardship of urban street trees. It draws from a survey of 137 residents and 190 vote cards returned as part of the Program, participant observation at the Program’s engagement events, and ten interviews of residents by the senior author. Survey and interview results suggest a widespread view among respondents that street trees are important for a variety of reasons – around 70% of survey respondents reported that they engaged in stewardship behaviour towards street trees. The main factors identified as influencing stewardship behaviour were individual motivations, perceptions, attitudes and values; personal circumstances; and government policies and programs. These were incorporated into a model of stewardship behaviour developed for cities in the United States, adapted to incorporate values and place attachment. The findings of this study inform the Australian Capital Territory Government’s goal of fostering urban tree stewardship in the Canberra community and the achievement of similar goals and programs elsewhere. Governments should engage in a suite of best practices to encourage stewardship by residents. These include a sustained commitment to community engagement, the strengthening of stewardship education, and collaboration with neighbourhood groups. Given that the Street Forestry Program and this study were limited and targeted in scope, there are opportunities for further research in this topic area, with larger and more representative sample populations.在澳大利亚首都堪培拉，当地推出了一项城市森林战略，旨在强化城市森林作为气候变化应对基于自然解决方案的核心作用。该战略的核心目标之一是引导居民参与社区行道树的管护工作，而这一目标的实现有赖于充分了解居民对行道树的认知、态度，以及其承担管护职责的意愿。本研究针对参与试点街道森林项目（Street Forestry Program）的堪培拉居民展开上述议题的探究，并探讨该项目对推广城市行道树管护举措的借鉴意义。本研究的数据来源包括：针对137名居民的问卷调查、项目回收的190份投票卡、项目参与活动中的参与式观察记录，以及通讯作者对10名居民开展的深度访谈。问卷调查与访谈结果显示，受访群体普遍认为行道树具备多维度的重要价值：约70%的受访者表示曾参与行道树管护行为。研究识别出影响管护行为的三大核心驱动因素：个体动机、认知、态度与价值观；个人境遇；以及政府政策与扶持项目。研究将上述因素纳入针对美国城市开发的管护行为模型，并针对本土场景进行适配调整，新增了价值观与地方依恋（place attachment）维度。本研究结果可为澳大利亚首都领地政府达成在堪培拉社区推广城市树木管护的目标提供实证支撑，同时也可为其他地区类似目标与项目的落地提供参考。政府应采用一系列最佳实践举措以鼓励居民参与管护，具体包括：持续投入社区参与工作、强化管护教育，以及与社区团体开展合作。鉴于本次街道森林项目与本研究的覆盖范围有限且具有针对性，未来可采用规模更大、代表性更强的样本群体开展该领域的后续研究。