Lotte Dijkstra

Project Title

URBAN FOREST STORIES: Exploring the intersectional environmental relation between senses of belonging and equitable access to urban forest places

Project Description

For many humans, urban forests are nature close to home. For more-than-human beings, urban forests are home. At the same time, engagement with and access to urban forests and their countless benefits are unequal. Quantitative data show how human age, ethnicity, health, and deprivation influence levels of engagement with and time spent in nature. Beyond availability and attractiveness, cultivating a sense of belonging seems to play a role in mitigating this unequal access. But what does it mean to belong in an urban forest? Who belongs in these more-than-human places?

This PhD research by creative practice explores how senses of belonging relate to equitable access to urban forest places across more-than-human communities. The intersectional environmental approach recognises that we are more than our age, ethnicity, health, or social background. Collaborative place-based storytelling sessions helps recover the interconnections between more-than-human beings, giving voice to historically marginalised perspectives, and exploring intersecting identities in and of the place itself.

The sessions are organised in Gateshead Riverside Park in the North East of England. Through multi-sensory explorations, more-than-human beings and human inhabitants of the region are invited to explore their sense of belonging in this particular urban forest place. Individual and collaborative storytelling prompts result in creative recordings of co-created stories. These results are connected to theory to interpret the findings, using writing as a tool for critical thinking and culminating in an anthology of co-produced urban forest stories. The resulting insights and methodology aim to contribute to the intersection of urban forestry, socio-environmental justice and multispecies community engagement and to support fair, healthy and resilient urban forest planning, design and management.

Supervisors

Dr Usue Ruiz Arana

Clive Davies

Prof Maggie Roe 

Qualifications

Master of Science in Architecture, Urbanism and Building Sciences: Landscape Architecture track, Delft University of Technology, the Netherlands

Bachelor of Science in Architecture, Urbanism and Building Sciences, Delft University of Technology, the Netherlands

Papers and Publications

selection

Books

• Verschuure-Stuip, GA, Dijkstra, CM, Van Prooijen, GJ, Hirsch, H, eds. Over de relatie tussen bomen en wegen [Tree Avenues. On the inseparable relation between trees and roads] 2022. Delft/Arnhem: TU Delft-Centre for Global Heritage and Development/Bomenstichting.
• Dijkstra, CM, Hinterleitner, J, De Jonge, W, Van ‘t Klooster, I, Mastik, M, eds. Het Stadsranden-lab. Nieuwe typologieën voor de kreukelzones van de stad [The Urban Fringe Lab. New typologies for the fringe zones of the city] Amsterdam: BNA Onderzoek.

Book Chapter

• Dijkstra, CM. ‘Arboreal Citizen Participation. More-than-human agency in urban planning, design and management’. In: O’Neill, S. ed. Tree Lines. Arboreal Agency in the Creative Arts. Publication pending.

Conference Proceedings

• Davies, C, Dijkstra, CM, Borelli, S, Salbitano, F, Conigliaro, M, Wallace, C. Accessible Urban Forest Education: Introducing the FAO elearning course ‘Introduction to Urban and Peri-Urban Forestry’. In: 2^nd World Forum on Urban Forestry Washington D.C., USA, p. 73.
• Dijkstra, CM. Tree Tales: Workshop intersectional belonging in practice. In: 2^nd World Forum on Urban Forestry Washington D.C.
• Dijkstra, CM. Mapping Urban Forest Places: A creative approach to exploring people’s awareness and imagination of urban forest places in North East England. In: 3^rd World Conference on Forests for Public Health. Sherbrooke, Canada.
• Dijkstra, CM. Urban Forest Stories from Singapore: Exploring human-nature senses of belonging in the ‘City in Nature’. In: Memory Studies Association Conference Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK.
• Dijkstra, CM. Sharing Urban Forest Stories: Forest walk and storytelling workshop in Gateshead Riverside Park. In: Memory Studies Association Conference Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK.
• Dijkstra, CM. Sharing urban forest stories: workshop on intersectional belonging in practice [workshop]. In: European Forum on Urban Forestry Kraków, Poland p. 41.
• Dijkstra, CM. Intersectional belonging: exploring senses of belonging for equitable access to urban forest places across communities. In: European Forum on Urban Forestry Kraków, Poland, p. 53.

Exhibitions

• Dijkstra, CM. Forest Time: A 4D exploration of intersectional belonging in/to Gateshead Riverside Park [interactive installation]. In: Creative Practice Research Exhibition Newcastle upon Tyne: Architecture 101 Questioning the Fundamentals.
• Van Loon, FD, Pouderoijen, MT, Alberini, E, Dijkstra, CM et al. Institute of Poldering: Meadow Under Construction Delft: TU Delft Chair of Landscape Architecture.

Thesis

• Dijkstra, CM. Golden Green: drawing upon lane design principles to design integral sustainable roads 2017. Delft: TU Delft (Master thesis).

Research Group Memberships

• Anthropocene Research Group
• Architecture Research Collaborative (ARC)
• Centre for Landscape
• Creative Practice Research Forum at Institute for Creative Arts Practce
• The Landscape Collaboratory (TLC)

Funding

• Newcastle University Forshaw Award 2022-2024
• Newcastle University Institute of Social Science HaSS Pioneer Award 2023
• Newcastle University Jobs on Campus Internship funding 2023
• Newcastle University Engagement and Place Fund (with Dr Usue Ruiz Arana and Stef Leach)

Contact

C.M.Dijkstra2@newcastle.ac.uk