The power of creative communication and site use
One area where the U.S. urban forestry commu-
nity excels is communication. For instance, both
Washington DC and NYC use story maps that are con-
nected to their GIS database. Even if this technique
has been available for a long time, the two cities
really utilized this GIS function in a very pedagogical
and clear way. We have started to introduce this to
Swedish municipalities—and these great examples
will make it much easier to persuade Swedish man-
agers to become better in sharing information.
During our New York City visit we got to experi-
ence the Nightfall event at Green-Wood Cemetery
(see official photos on Instagram, here and here).
This was an interesting and unique cultural outdoor
event where they combined live performances,
elaborate light design, and short films within an
iconic and beloved urban green space. Our visit
to Green-Wood was part of a collaborative work
between The Tree Office and Ruth A. Rae, PhD.
Ruth is an Adjunct Professor of Sustainable Urban
Environments in the New York University Tandon
School of Engineering. With Ruth, we compared the
Swedish cemetery of Östra kyrkogården in Malmö
with Green-Wood cemetery in New York City—par-
ticularly, how the use of cemeteries by the public
differed between them. The Nightfall event is an
excellent example of a creative and fun way to bring
the public into the urban green space of a cemetery.
Johan and Gustav with their peers from Washington DC's department of
transportation (DDOT), Robert Corletta and Duff McCully.
34 CityTREES
