European Forum on Urban Forestry 2018 (Helsinki) - Call for Abstracts extended until April 3EUROPEAN FORUM ON URBAN FORESTRY (EFUF) invites abstracts for contributed oral presentations for the 2018 EFUF conference being held in Helsinki, Finland from 15-19 May 2018. More information: www.efuf2018.com.
The European Forum on Urban Forestry (EFUF) is a unique meeting place for practitioners, managers, architects, researchers, professionals, public authorities and policy makers to share interdisciplinary experience and good practices within the field of urban forestry. Abstracts may be submitted online until 3 April 2018.
 Contribution to the conference theme
The abstracts should contribute to the EFUF conference theme and should address one or more of the conference topics. We invite your contribution for an oral presentation in one of the parallel sessions on the topics of: - Planning of urban forests and other green infrastructure
- Participation in the planning of urban forests and other green spaces
- Management of urban forests and other green spaces
It is possible to present scientific results (scientific-oriented contribution) as well as practical results and experiences (practice-oriented contribution). We encourage practitioners to report their experiences and provide complementary information on projects, research and initiatives contributing to conference topics.
The three topics areas aim at to answer several principal questions that examine issues on how to maintain the provision multitude of services of urban forests and other green infrastructure to diversity of citizens. At the end of this mail are examples of questions as indications of topics that will be covered at the upcoming conference. Requirements for abstracts The abstracts in English for oral presentations should include paper title, author names, affiliations and e-mails, keywords up to 5. The abstracts should describe research questions, theoretical approach, material and methods, and main findings. The maximum length is 400 words and the format should be “title.doc” or “title.docx” (no figures, tables or attachments allowed). The abstracts should also include the following information: - Purpose: scientific or practice oriented contribution
- Conference topic: at least one
- Authors and a presenter: each abstract must have a designated presenter.
Authors will be informed on the acceptance of their paper by April 1, 2018. At least one of the authors should register for the conference, and should have their fee settled by credit card upon registration, otherwise the presentation will be cancelled. The accepted abstracts will be printed in the conference guide. Review of the abstracts All abstracts will be reviewed by the scientific committee and it will determine whether a work will be accepted for presentation. The review will consider - clarity of the presented objectives,
- clarity and quality of the methods,
- clarity and quality of the results and conclusions and
- its scientific or practical relevance to the themes of the conference.
Important dates Abstract submission deadline: 10 March 2018
Notification of decision on abstract: 1 April 2018
Registration: 15 January – 30 April 2018 Examples of questions as indications of topics that will be covered at the upcoming conference 1. Planning of urban forests and other green infrastructure - How we can reserve and sustain enough urban forests and green areas for the people?
- How to maintain and provide health benefits of urban forests for a diversity of citizens?
- Dimensions of green connections – how large and what forest elements and structures are needed for proving health benefits?
- How large urban green and forest areas to sustain ecological processes and connections?
- How can recreation and relaxation and ecological values of narrow or limited green corridors be improved and amended?
- Biodiversity in urban environments – how can we assess and compare biodiversity values?
- What methods are available to simultaneously evaluate biodiversity, recreational, scenic and economic values in urban planning?
- Additional residential zoning, construction and expansion of infrastructure limits urban green areas – examples of successful maintenance of green corridors, biodiversity and other values.
2. Participation in the planning of urban forests and other green spaces - Urban population is continuously diversifying – how can we make sure that in the planning process citizens’ input is received broadly and it is impartial, unbiased, fair, equitable and objective?
- Whose values are the most important in planning? How can we integrate various and different values in urban forests and green spaces planning?
- What are the best ways to avoid conflicts among and between different interest groups?
- What benefits can digital technology and social media provide for participatory planning?
3. Management of urban forests and other green spaces - How we can maintain urban forests and other natural green areas in urban stress?
- What are practical methods to maintain ecological connections sustain biodiversity in urban green areas and forests?
- How can we mitigate and adapt to climate change in urban forests and green environments?
- Will adaptability of native plants be adequate broad or will assisted migration from temperate to boreal zone needed?
- How can long-term risks be effectually included in management plans of urban green areas and forests, including pests and diseases, storms, floods, wildfire?
- A risk scenario has happened in an urban forest; how to recover and build new environments?
EFUF 2018 is organized by the City of Helsinki, City of Vantaa, University of Helsinki and Natural Resources Research Institute Finland (Luke).
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