Climate change is regarded as one of the world’s greatest threats, and now the impact of climate change is affecting humans and non-humans more than ever before. This project is based in Glasgow where the UN’s 26th Conference of the Parties (COP26) is to be hosted later this year. Glasgow is a typical industrial city that has experienced rapid urbanisation. Now impacted by the climate emergency it is facing a future of extreme weather, rising sea levels, higher temperatures, changing habitats, and also social issues.
In this project, the main concept is to introduce urban forests as commons in response to climate change. There is a lot of potential land in the city, including car parks, industrial land, and vacant land. As the use of cars decreases and the transportation system changes, these sites can be developed into urban forests. Based on the landscape strategy of last semester, I chose three different test sites this semester to demonstrate how urban forests can benefit human and non-human communities as a healing garden, a primary school, and an outdoor shopping space. Following the establishment of these urban forest patches other potential sites can be identified for transformation using these three sites as examples. In addition, these urban forests are connected by green corridors to form a green network, thus changing our perception of Glasgow to a city in the forest.