Tokyo Metropolitan Parks as urban forestry assemblagesreframing more-than-human commons in the city

Abstract

This study explores urban forestry as a maintenance practice capable of enhancing more-than-human commons in the city. Focusing on the places associated with tree care, the methodology takes as a case study the Tokyo Metropolitan Parks, conducting quantitative and qualitative analysis through the means of immersive field work and questionnaires, to reveal how urban forestry practices materialize within the parks. Regarding the spatial relations between humans and/or non-humans with resources, different Urban Forestry Elements (UFE) have been found, as well as their collection in groups within the parks forming Urban Forestry Assemblages (UFA). The paper creates a comprehensive framework that reveals these places for urban forestry as important beacons for urban commoning.