Last updated: March 2025
The City of Gothenburg's policy for park and street trees was updated in 2016 and has the overarching aim to maintain and develop the ecological, historical, social and economic values of the city's trees and tree environments. Trees are described as having ecological, historical, cultural and economic values. They can provide ecosystem services such as habitat and biodiversity, air quality improvement, flood prevention, heat mitigation, recreation and aesthetic values [Ref. 1]. The policy applies to all trees in the streets, squares, and parks within the municipality but not to natural environments such as forests at the city's edge. Further, the policy is mostly relevant for municipality employees whenever they make decisions that will affect trees or tree-covered areas, such as zoning/planning and construction projects. Other actors in the city, such as private real estate or construction companies, are not required to follow the policy but are encouraged to consider it. The policy formulates sub-goals and guidances regarding the preservation of existing trees (prioritising large and old ones), the planting of new trees, the maintenance of trees, protection during construction work and finally, the taking down of trees, including compensation measures. The policy's direct effects is an expected improved management of trees within the municipal organisation. This may have further indirect benefits in the form of increased ecosystem service provision when the policy affects other projects [Ref. 1, 2].
Overview
Nature-based solution
- Grey infrastructure featuring greens
- Alley or street trees and other street vegetation
- Other
- Parks and urban forests
- Pocket parks/neighbourhood green spaces
- Other
Key challenges
- Green space, habitats and biodiversity (SDG 15)
- Green space creation and/or management
- Habitat and biodiversity conservation
- Regeneration, land-use and urban development
- Regulation of built environment
- Promote natural styles of landscape design for urban development
- Cultural heritage and cultural diversity
- Protection of historic and cultural landscape/infrastructure
- Inclusive and effective governance (SDG 16)
- Effective management
Principal problems in Functional Urban Area (FUA)
- Climate-Related Hazards
- Urban flooding (stormwater)
- Heat stress & Extreme temperatures
- Environmental Degradation
- Biodiversity loss
- Air pollution
- Health, Well-being and Social cohesion
- Physical health harm (from pollution, wildfire, extreme temperature)
- Mental health issues (stress, anxiety)
- Inadequate access to recreational opportunities
- Loss of sense of place and identity
Key priorities
Biodiversity (conservation and/or restoration)
Focus
Strategy, plan or policy development, Creation of city-wide or neighborhood green and blue infrastrcuture protection or enhancement strategies/plans
Project objectives
The main goal of the policy is that the City of Gothenburg should
"Maintain and develop ecological, historical, social and economical values of the city's trees and tree environments". The sub-goals in the policy are:
"1. Existing trees: Consider all values of the trees during planning which affects existing trees.
2. Planting trees: When planting new trees, choose the right tree for the right location and give the tree the pre-conditions to develop normally.
3. Tree maintenance: Care for the trees so that they are given the pre-conditions to grow normally and develop many values.
4. Protection of trees: Protect the trees from damages when construction work happens nearby.
5: Removing trees: Consider the values of trees and tree environments if trees are planned to be taken down." [Ref. 2]
Furthermore, the policy should contribute to the general sustainability goals of the city's environmental programme and some national sustainability goals [Ref. 1-2].
The "values of trees" frequently referred to in the policy are described in one of the sections, divided into ecological, historical, cultural and economic values. The values are also summarised as ecosystem services [Ref. 2].
Implementation activities
1. The municipal park and nature department was tasked by the political park and nature board to update the existing tree policy.
2. The policy was drafted by a working group consisting of municipal employees and experts within biology, architecture and landscape architecture.
3. The policy was approved in 2016 by three different political boards: park and nature, traffic, and construction.
4. Based on the policy, the municipality will develop a system for maintaining the city's trees in a sustainable, long term manner.
[Ref. 1]
Biodiversity conservation or restoration-focused activities
Biodiversity conservation:
- Means for conservation governance
- Manage biological resources for conservation and sustainable use
- Raise public awareness
Main beneficiaries
- Local government/Municipality
- Citizens or community groups
- Young people and children
Governance
Management set-up
- Government-led
Type of initiating organisation
- Local government/municipality
Participatory approaches/ community involvement
- Consultation (e.g. workshop, surveys, community meetings, town halls)
Details on the roles of the organisations involved in the project
The policy is created by and applies to the City of Gothenburg and it operations. In the process of creating the policy, several different departments within the municipality cooperated. Knowledge was also gathered from national agencies, other municipalities, the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences and more. [Ref. 1]
Project implemented in response to ...
... an EU policy or strategy?
Unknown
... a national policy or strategy?
Yes
(Three of the Swedish national environmental goals, established by the Riksdag (parliament), influenced the creation of the policy: 1. Clean air, 2. A good built environment and 3. A rich plant and animal life. The policy also refers to a national guidance document for considerations when dealing with trees in public environments, published by the Swedish National Heritage Board (government agency) [Ref. 1-2]. )
... a local policy or strategy?
Yes
(The policy refers to, and contributes to the goals of, the city's environmental programme (Göteborgs Stads miljöprogram) and the "Green strategy for a dense and green city" (Grönstrategi för en tät och grön stad). )
Type of enablers
Unknown
Financing
Total cost
Unknown
Source(s) of funding
- Public local authority budget
Type of funding
- Earmarked public budget
Non-financial contribution
Type of non-financial contribution
- Provision of expertise
Who provided the non-financial contribution?
- Public authorities (e.g. land, utility services)
Impacts and Monitoring
Environmental impacts
- Green space and habitat
- Increased conservation or restoration of ecosystems
- Expected increased conservation or restoration of ecosystems
- Reduced biodiversity loss
- Expected reduced biodiversity loss
- Other
Economic impacts
- Reduce financial cost for urban management
- Expected reduce financial cost for urban management
Socio-cultural impacts
- Cultural heritage and sense of place
- Protection of historic and cultural landscape / infrastructure
- Expected protection of historic and cultural landscape / infrastructure
- Education
- Increased awareness of NBS and their benefits
- Achieved increased awareness of NBS and their benefits
Type of reported impacts
Presence of formal monitoring system
Unknown
Presence of indicators used in reporting
No evidence in public records
Presence of monitoring/ evaluation reports
No evidence in public records
Availability of a web-based monitoring tool
No evidence in public records
Potential risks of implementation and trade-offs
Unknown
References
1.
City of Gothenburg (2016). Stadens träd: Policy för park- och gatuträd i Göteborg. [Source link];
2.
City of Gothenburg (n.d.). Så arbetar staden med trädfrågan. Accessed on August 22, 2024, [Source link];
3.
Ceder, C., Wennerbeck, M., Lindell, B., Johansson, L., Johansson, T., Casari, B., & Olsson, J. (2017). Göteborgs ökända trädskövling fortsätter. Göteborgs-Posten, [Source link];
4.
Lundberg, L., Mannheimer, E., Runström, B., & Lindell, B. (2023). Debatt: Vi hade önskat konkreta svar om Göteborgs träd. Göteborgs-Posten, [Source link];
5.
Kamne, U. (2018). Debatt: Göteborg behöver fler träd. ETC, [Source link];
Information about this nature-based solution was collected as part of the Naturescapes project funded by the European Union under Grant Agreement No 101084341.