Speaker
Description
Which tree species define Leipzig's urban landscape, and do citizens know them? Biodiversity provides many services, including contributions to human well-being: green areas consistently improve mood and quality of life. Urban trees have long life histories and pass through many human generations, becoming embedded in a place's cultural and historical memory. Yet many urban residents cannot identify the trees around them, especially those who grew up in a different biome and moved to a new area. Additionally, trees that matter to people are increasingly threatened: ongoing climate change, including droughts and shifts in seasonality, alongside the spread of invasive species, is altering the conditions urban trees depend on. As global change intensifies, species unable to adapt to local environmental shifts will be filtered out. Closing the gap between public familiarity and ecological urgency requires engagement at the citizen level. We argue that identification itself is a first step toward awareness, and that tree identification can connect citizens to biodiversity and help people perceive environmental change over time through shifts in tree distribution across the city.
To playfully engage citizens with the biodiversity around them, we developed a tree identification game. We selected the 20 most representative tree species of the Leipzig urban area as its foundation. Players match species cards across four languages (German, English, Latin, and Portuguese/French) and across identification features (bark, leaf, flower, fruit). The game is designed as both a leisure activity and a first layer of biodiversity literacy, grounding players in the species that shape their city and face an uncertain future.
During the iDiv conference, we will present the game and invite participants to play a test round as an integrative activity.
| Status Group | Postdoctoral Researcher |
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