The urban forest is nature close to home for many city dwellers. Yet, engagement with and access to the urban forest is unequal. Current research focuses on achieving the dimensions of distributive and procedural access rather than addressing the dimension of a sense. This sense of access can also be understood as ‘belonging’. A key question is how such a sense of belonging in urban forests can be defined and fostered. How does it feel to belong in the urban forest?

Beating the Bounds of Stourbridge Common with willow switches, remembering and re-membering the edges of the common land open to all. Bottling the Bounds commemorates the Beating the Bounds ceremony of 15 June 2025 at Stourbridge Common in Cambridge, and celebrates what makes Stourbridge Common so special.

Discover the connections of these creatures in the landscape:

I am a bee, a dog, a post box on the corner of a busy street

I am a unicorn, a dog, an owl, a kitten

I am a seed from a poppy flower, a dragon with large wings and horns

I am doing well today!

What Baltic Square tells us:

I am the stone, I am a forgotten beer can, a moss, a water droplet

I am the wind, the water, the wind, a cloud

I am forget-me-not, a weed, the grass, the little ant

I am the river, the grass, a spider, a moss 

I am the stone, a pigeon’s feather, the bridge, a seagull

I am wind, a heart shape with eyes and legs, an arugula

I am the cloud, a suitcase, a brown trout

I am the sky, the wind

I am the stone, seagull, the wind, water

I am the clouds, a sticker, the wind

I am a seagull, a wheel, a feather

I am wind, a little grass, a moss

I am the wind

I am the stone

Arboriculturists are key players in facilitating contact between humans and trees in urban environments. This second urban forest story from the annual Arboricultural Association Conference in Warwick, England, shows just how different the human and more-than-human stories can be from day to day.

Arboriculturists are key players in facilitating contact between humans and trees in urban environments. This first urban forest story from the annual Arboricultural Association Conference in Warwick, England, shows just how much our human and more-than-human stories are connected.

Listen closely for the stories hanging from branches, hopping through underbrush and rooting beneath your feet...

A collaborative forest-based story from NightGarden Festival 2024

‘We are leaves / we are nature / we are hugging a tree’

A collaborative more-than-human place-based story from the North East of England

“Here, now, feels not good / it's good / GOOD!!!”

A collaborative more-than-human place-based story from Gateshead Riverside Park

“feels nice / feels familiar / quiet and loud ”

A collaborative more-than-human place-based story from Gateshead Riverside Park

“I am leaves, I like to dance with the wind”

A collaborative place-based story from Gateshead Riverside Park

“I started to feel cold a bit / but not that much / it’s just enough to feel I am here and now ”

A collaborative place-based story from Gateshead Riverside Park

“the tree feels lucky to survive / and on their road to recovery”

A collaborative place-based story from Gateshead Riverside Park

“I am the beginning, the end / I carry the scars of history ”

A collaborative place-based story from Gateshead Riverside Park

A collaborative place-based story from Washington D.C., transcribed here as crafted and captured in place during the 2^nd World Forum on Urban Forests

A collaborative place-based story from Gateshead Riverside Park, transcribed here as crafted and captured in place during the Memory Studies Association 7^th Annual Conference, on Monday 03 July 2023

A collaborative place-based urban forest story from Kraków, Poland

Seated under a sprawling tree, on a teal metal chair at a teal metal table on a flagstone patio, the water swirling in the glass while the sun pushes through the canopy above - this is where I am when I first meet Pigeon.

Answers to Frequently Asked Questions about the Urban Forest Stories sessions

Why do autumn leaves change colour? As days shorten, and night envelopes us earlier each day, I keep finding patches of bright autumn leaves on my way. Where do these colours come from, I wonder, and what might be their purpose, I ponder.