Lito Skopeliti: Tiny Forests in Athens

Forests are hubs of diversity. In their territories multi-species assemblages take place. This time, through in situ observation and research, Lito Skopeliti investigates qualities of forest habitats and methods able to replicate forestry mechanisms in urban environments.

Forests are not only trees covering an area. They are dense and multilayered communities, a network of shrubs, herbs, trees, organic matter, fungi and fauna living together in non-competitive relationships. Different species nurture each other and thrive in their inter-dependency. Wild forests take time to form naturally, but various methods manage to recreate forest habitats even in small places and urban areas. The dichotomy that separates the human from the non- human environment eclipses; forests in small sizes are popping up in cities around the world.

Tiny forest as a method is based on the research of botanologist Akira Miyawaki. This method uses native and indigenous forests as prototypes to learn from and replicates the naturally formed relationships among species in places as tiny as a tennis court. They are considered forests due to their high diversity and density of vegetation. Tiny forests have been adopted in various countries and are popping up in big cities both of the global south as well as the global north. Even though they are capable of storing carbon and affect the microclimate of an area, urban forestry can not be seen as a climate adaptation measure. They are low-cost and low maintenance conveners that endure biodiversity, reconnect localities with nature, help in stabilizing humidity and water storage and contribute to urban cooling. Their rewilding capacities reside in the transformation of human monocultures to abundant spaces for both human and non human existences.

In this research, tiny forests have been used as a concept, but not as the sole method of inspiration on urban forest making. A visit to The Southern Lights, an organization based on an agroforestry farm that hosts a food forest (a.k.a. a forest that produces food), gave insights on different ways to facilitate the creation and thriving of an ecosystem. Food forests align with the Miyawaki method in the use of multilayers, the density of plantation and the treatment of soil, but deny the notions of “native species” as arbitrary human construction and plant racist. In a food forest that can similarly be adopted in urban environments, humans work as conveners and part of the ecosystem and the majority of the plantation provides nuts, fruits, seeds and organic matter These insights gave inspiration to support the transformation of a small private land in Glyfada into a tiny food forest. Pomegranate and rosemaries that were exhibited at the Οnassis AiR space as part of Open Day #2, will be replanted among already existing shrubs, citrus and pine trees. This research has additionally mapped public owned lands in the municipality of Agios Dimitrios —seeds and seedlings are going to be planted in the social gardens of the area— and proposes the consideration of tiny forests as adequate use of land.