In this webinar series, arranged by the two university platforms SLU Urban Futures and Future Forests, we delve into urban forests to shed light on various aspects and areas that need more research.

This webinar unravels the role of rapid urbanization that has mushroomed around forests – a forest that is home to leopards and other wildlife biodiversity coexisting with original inhabitants, the Indigenous peoples. The presentation introduces the case study, Aarey forests – rich moist deciduous urban forests covering roughly 2000 acres, which act as a buffer between a national park and the maximum city of India, Mumbai. How do Aarey forests challenge urban landscape planners in their development plan? What do citizens want – whose perspective matters, and why? Who wins? The presentation, using Aarey as a case study, will delve into conceptualizing – the meaning of urban forests in the Global South.

Purabi Bose is a Senior Lecturer of Forest Policy, at SLU in Alnarp. Author, filmmaker, and researcher, her work interfaces communicating forest rights, land use, food security, governance, traditional knowledge, gender, and Indigenous peoples, particularly in the Global South. This presentation is based on her self-funded initiative, the Landing Together films.

https://www.slu.se/urbanforests

https://www.slu.se/urbanfutures
https://www.slu.se/futureforests