Open to the Public

Human beings were able to develop a stable relationship with the land and abandon the hunter-gatherer lifestyle only when some communities decided to faithfully and stably tie their existence to a relatively small number of trees and shrubs that could provide them with food and shelter. This is how the first city was born: it was this strange act of spatial fidelity to plant life that gave rise to the urban environment. That means that the relationship between different species is not tangentially urban. It is the original urban fact. If this is true, then what we call the countryside is a form of urbanism in which, in addition to the number of people and stones, we also have to conceive how many plants should exist, which ones, how fast they should grow, and so on. Consequently, any form of opposition between city and countryside (or the wilderness") is illusory. The solution to climate change lies not in replacing cities with the countryside or “wilderness,” but in designing cities more radically: extending the culture of urban congestion to a culture of species congestion and biodiversity density. How can we rethink the technological urban model to build planetary interspecies density?

This event is co-sponsored by the Salata Institute for Climate and Sustainability.

The conifer collection at the Arnold Arboretum is a magical place to visit at any time of the year, as it is especially rich in history and diversity. Docent Cristina Squeff will lead participants through this collection explaining key identification features and sharing relevant stories about individual trees.

Frederick Law Olmsted, considered the father of landscape architecture, designed some 500 public spaces in North America. The Arnold Arboretum is the only arboretum he designed, a National Historic Landmark, and a model for others around the world. Docent Bill Beizer, will identify the elements of the Arboretum that best reflect Olmsted’s philosophy and approach to landscape design.

Accessibility: This program will take place entirely on paved roads.

Audience: This program is geared towards adults.

Inclement weather policy: Tours will be canceled in cases of the following weather conditions: severe wind, snow, ice, thunder or lightning events; temperatures over 90 degrees; and temperatures below 20 degrees. Tours may be canceled due to other weather events at the discretion of Arboretum staff. In the case of cancelation, you will be contacted by Arboretum staff no later than 2 hours before the start of the event. If you have questions about the status of a program, please email publicprograms@arnarb.harvard.edu or call the Visitor Center desk between 10:00am and 4:00pm at (617) 384-5209.

A warming climate and increasing environmental pathogens pose an existential threat to the Arboretum’s collection of some 16,000 woody plants, trees and shrubs that are able to survive in our climate. This one hour walk will highlight the impact of climate change and increasing pathogens on key species in the Arboretum’s collection, describe some of the research initiatives underway to mitigate the effects of global warming and new pathogens, and identify the challenges and opportunities we face in improving our urban canopy.