Creating a database for recording and evaluating the species of vegetation in the county of Athens, Greece

Abstract

Urban forestry is an important part of cities and the rewards are many. The planning of urban forestry involves equally the civil works of a city as well as the water and sewage works, lines of natural gas, roads and electric power network. The creation of urban forestry normally must precede the construction of buildings. Urban forestry includes all the outdoor-planted areas (with trees, bushes, flowers, grass). Such open areas are parks, squares, tree lanes, planted areas of homes and apartment complexes, river banks, public buildings, schools, etc. In this report the creation of a database is attempted for the recording of the types of vegetation in the county of Athens. There follows an evaluation of vegetation types based on specific criteria. Valuable conclusions are reached and specific proposals are made as far as the type of vegetation that is acceptable (based on their most valuable properties), also some new promising species of vegetation are proposed for experimentation and trial planting. The increase of urban forestry can be made through land possessing after reimbursing private owners, improvement of existing green areas, tree lanes and finally, with planting of balconies, rooftops and open spaces. The State is called, working with the citizens, to build a better tomorrow.