Research projects within Urban Vegetation

Designed urban greenery for a healthy living environment
Funded by Formas, coordinated by IVL. 2024-2028

This project aim to remove obstacles preventing the full realisation of multifunctional urban greenery in a sustainable city. Through collaboration between academic, public and private sector, jointly realistic solutions will be developed of how trees and small-scale urban greenery can be combined to design living environments for health and well-being in areas typically lacking green structure. The project will identify which types of greenery are suitable in different types of environments, address relevant conflicts and synergies, and fill knowledge gaps to present a holistic analysis of the multifunctionality of each solution.

Contact person: Petra Thorpert

How green should green roofs be? Ecosystem services tradeoffs and synergies from nitrogen fertilization of green roofs as they age
Funded by SLU-LTV Faculty. 2024-2028

This PhD project explores the potential for fertilization of older green roofs to influence the development of the plant community, as well as the soil microbial community, and in turn improve the ecosystem functions and services provided by green roofs as they age. The focus is on nitrogen cycling dynamics, and both positive services (water retention, cooling, nutrient retention, restorative properties) as well as potential negative dis-services (nutrient leakage, emissions of the greenhouse N2O) resulting from fertilization are measured as part of the project.

Contact person: Ishi Buffam

Transition capacity to manage extreme weather events by making room for the water - from mind to map (room4water
Funded by Formas, coordinated by VTI. 2024-2027

This project has the aim of working towards a shared vision on creating space for both river flood water and people, using the Nissan River Floodplain, SW Sweden, as a case study. Room4water aims to link spatial planning, risk management and climate adaptation with nature conservation through cross-sectoral and cross-boundary cooperation, addressing the transition capacity of the region by integrating governance, community, and spatial/biophysical perspectives. The project involves Ishi Buffam, Lisbet Christoffersen and Åsa Ode Sang at SLU. For more information about the overall project: https://www.vti.se/forskning/klimatanpassning/anpassningsformaga-langs-vattendrag

Contact person: Ishi Buffam and Lisbet Christoffersen.

Low maintenance perennial mixes for tuff growing conditions
Funded by Trafikverket and Movium partnerskap. 2023-2027

This PhD project investigates the potential of designed plant communities, as a more sustainable and attractive alternative to e.g. cut grass or paving in problematic locations like traffic islands and interplantings with street trees. The focus is on dry sun exposed situations and dry conditions in deep shade. The project has an interdisciplinary approach and cover ecological and maintenance aspects as well as aesthetics and design.

Contact person: Karin Svensson

Urban Street Trees for Optimizing Long-term provision of Ecosystem services in Ethiopia
Funded by Formas 2022-2024

This project will explore the potential use of the indegenous Ethiopian tree flora for ecosystem delivery in urban areas. The project is carried out in collaboration with Professor Kumelachew Yeshitela at the university in Addis Ababa and involves Anna Levinsson, Åsa Ode Sang, Henrik Sjöman, Tobias Emilsson and Gebretsadik Melak Tamene (PhD student).

Contact person: Anna Levinsson and Åsa Ode Sang

Improving sustainability in urban development by recognising the carbon costs of urban trees
Funded by Formas 2021-2025

The goal of the project is to, by performing life cycle assessments of trees in different urban scenarios, understand how long it takes for urban trees to become carbon neutral. Anna Levinsson, Henrik Sjöman, Johanna Deak Sjöman, Tobias Emilsson, Anna Lund, all from LAPF, and Johannes Edvardsson, Lunds University, and Per-Anders Hansson, ET, SLU, are all involved in the project.

Contact person: Anna Levinsson.

MOSS - Management strategies for tree colonized peatland ecOSyStems
Funded by Formas and coordinated by Lund University. 2021-2024

This project investigates water levels threshold values for pine establishment on peatlands. The overall aim is to restore peatlands affected by horticultural drainage and assure their stability and maintain them as important carbon sinks.

Contact person: Anna Levinsson

Risk analysis of invasive alien species
Partly funded by Formas. 2021-2025

This Ph.D. project “Risk analysis of invasive alien plant species” is focused on risk communication, risk assessment, and risk management, in relation to invasion biology. The first two years of the project are focused on risk communication with the project "Guidelines for Effective Communication with Private Garden Owners about Sweden's New Risk Classification of Alien Species," funded by Formas.

Contact person: Cecilia Palmér

Substrates effect on tree development
Development project. 2022-

The goal of the project is to make a longterm evaulation of how different substrates used for urban tree planting beds affect development and growth of the trees, and the water quality in run-off water. It also explores potential tree vitality effects of Mykorrhiza-inocculation at planting and investigates the different substrates physical proerties. Anna Levinsson, Frida Andreasson, Ishi Buffam, Tobias Emilsson, Björn Wiström, Henrik Sjöman, and Anna Lund are involved in this project.

Contact persons: Anna Levinsson and Frida Andreasson

Green Sponge Buildings in Scandinavia
Funded by Intereg and coordinated by VIA University College, Denmark
2023-2026

The project documents the climate adaptation potential, the possibilities and the added values which lie in the establishment of green walls, as well as making the decision-makers' options and points of attention in connection with their choice visible to them. 

Contact person: Petra Thorpert

Innovative electrical and autonomous vegetation management in utility scale solar parks
Funded by Vinnova. 2021-

This project investigates how large utility scale solar energy parks can be maintained in an efficient way at the same time as maximising biodiveristy and energy production. The maintenance will in this case be carried out with autonomous electrical machines. Durign the project we have investigated the biodiversity development, energy output and radiation reflection in the park under different maintenance regimes. The project is now completed.

Contact person: Tobias Emilsson

Omvandling av slåttermaterial från vägkanter till biogas
Funded by Trafikverket

This project is funded by trafikverket and is focusing on how road side management can be improved through the use of improved cutting regimes, collection of cut material and optimised treatment of collected biomass. The project is trying to link improving road side biodiversity with energy utilization. The main focus of the project has so far been towards machine systems, logistics and biogas production but questions related to invasive species and biodiversity is continuously monitored.

Contact person: Tobias Emilsson

Sammanställning av odlingserfarenheter av träd och buskar för Norra Sverige
Funded by Movium Partnerskap.

This project explores the horticultural experience from multiple actors about cultivating trees and shrubs in northern Sweden. The goal is to increase the knowledge about trees and shrubs with high winter hardiness. The project is carried out as partnership project with multiple municipalities in northern Sweden.

Contact person: Björn Wiström

Sustainable living requires the nexus between urban socio-ecology and integrated pest management
Funded by the faculty: 2022-2024

This project explores how approaches from integrated pest management in agriculture could be incorporated into urban green space management.

Contact person: Petra Thorpert and Åsa Ode

Establishment watering of trees - A material sport?
Financed by Movium partnership in collaboration with the City of Malmö, the City of Stockholm and the City of Gothenburg.

Our goal and attempt are based on the questions, How does the function differ in different irrigation bag material?, How do these possible differences vary over season and year?, How is the function of the irrigation affected by water and nutrient solution respectively? During the spring of 2024, 32 irrigation bags will be installed at the garden lab in Alnarp.

Contact person: Frida Andreasson

Sustainable trees to promote sustainable cities in a changing climate
Funded by Formas, coordinated by Gothenburg University.

Contact person: Henrik Sjöman

RECENTLY FINISHED PROJECTS

REGREEN
Funded by the EU H2020 and coordinated by Aarhus University. Run September 2019- February 2024,

Based on the understanding of drivers and pressures that challenge future urban sustainability, REGREEN set out to improve the evidence and tools for supporting co-creation of nature-based solutions (NBS) in urban settings, implementation of decision support systems for planning and governance, and development of business models for realising spatially relevant NBS, that provide multiple ecosystem services and wellbeing. REGREEN works through 3 European and 3 Chinese Urban Living Labs (ULLs) as the central elements of the project, where co-creation of knowledge involves local citizens, schools, businesses, organisations and public administrations enabling new forms of urban innovation. The ULLs will be the testbed, where generic tools, together with scientific results, new ideas and methods, are applied in the real context. This results in novel guidelines and standards for developing and deploying urban NBS at a systemic and strategic level. REGREEN puts particular focus on the needs of vulnerable groups (such as young children, gender aspects, and socially deprived). REGREEN consortium consists of 7 universities, 4 research institutes (including museum), 3 city authorities (including agency), 4 consultancies (SMEs) and 2 city networks (including cooperative), from China and Europe. The project involves from SLU Åsa Ode Sang and Björn Wiström at LAPF, Fr

edrika Mårtensson at IMS and Marcus Hedblom at SOL. The project is now completed.  If you want to know more of the project please click here: www.regreen.eu

Contact person: Åsa Ode Sang and Marcus Hedblom

In it for the long-term: How does the provision of ecosystem services from green roofs change as the ecosystems age?
Funded by Formas. 2020-2023

This project explored how vegetation communities and soil properties of green roofs change over decades as they age, and how these changes influence the provision of ecosystem services including carbon sequestration, nutrient retention, stormwater runoff retention, and aesthetic and restorative qualities. The project involved measurements of green roof ecosystems in Malmö, Sweden and Helsinki, Finland, and was led by SLU in collaboration with researchers from the University of Helsinki.

Published results related to this study:

Mitchell, M.E., T. Emilsson, and I. Buffam. 2021. Carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus variation along a green roof chronosequence: implications for green roof ecosystem development. Ecological Engineering 164: 106211. doi: 10.1016/j.ecoleng.2021.106211

Ode Sang, Å, P. Thorpert, and A.-M. Fransson. 2022. Planning, Designing, and Managing Green Roofs and Green Walls for Public Health – An Ecosystem Services Approach. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution. doi:10.3389/fevo.2022.804500.

Contact person: Ishi Buffam

Nature-Based Solutions in Support of the Sustainable Development Goals: Expanding Opportunities in Ethiopian Cities
Network project funded by Formas. 2020

The project explored together with researchers and cities in Ethiopia how NBS and Urban Living Lab could be used to support the sustainable development goal.

Contact person: Ishi Buffam

Urban Green Infrastructure for Optimizing Long-Term Provision of Ecosystem Services: Developing a Universal Framework Under Different Cultures and Climates
Funded by Formas. 2018

The project explored how ecosystem services from urban green infrastructure in three cities, Addis Ababa (Ethiopia), Cincinnati (US) and Malmö (Sweden) could be used to address future challenges.

The results from the project are presented in:

Buffam, I., F. Aagaard Hagemann, T. Emilsson, A.M. Pálsdóttir, T.B. Randrup, K. Yeshitela & Å.O. Sang (2022) Priorities and barriers for urban ecosystem service provision: A comparison of stakeholder perspectives from three cities. Frontiers in Sustainable Cities. doi: 10.3389/frsc.2022.838971

Contact person: Åsa Ode Sang and Ishi Buffam

Framtidsanalys för skötsel av tätortsnära skog
Funded by Movium partnerskap and FOMA.

This project was a collaboration between researchers at SLUs landscape and forestry departments and the municipality of Sundsvall. Different scenarios for future forest management for the urban woodlands of Sundsvall was developed within the project and the outcomes of it for the next 100 years was simulated using the Heureka system. The report can be found here. https://movium.slu.se/media/c2jbhph5/220-20-rapport.pdf

Improving urban tree vitality - defining the degree of tree water uptake reduction from anthropogenic stress factors
Funded by Formas. 2017-2019

Contact person: Anna Levinsson

Tree establishment in a future urban climate - finding water stress threshold values and monitoring systems for relevant species in the urban context.
Funded by Formas 2016-2020

Contact person: Anna Levinsson