A pilot project in Glasgow by Trees AI. A new cloud-based platform launched in Glasgow to help fund, grow and maintain urban forests, as city’s frontline defense against flooding and pollution. Trees are infrastructure, their roots are plumbing, their leaves are canopy, their trunks are sustainable building material. Urban trees are a city’s frontline flood defense and air quality regulators, they support its healthcare and education services. Forests sequester carbon, absorb stormwater and provide insurance amid the uncertainty of climate change. Their growth, cultivation and maintenance creates green jobs, improves biodiversity, provides homes for flora and fauna and places for humans to connect with nature. In June 2021, Glasgow City Region announced plans to plant 18 million trees in the upcoming decade creating extensive urban forests stretching across now-derelict sites and connecting historic woodlands. In October 2022, Glasgow hosted COP26, and amid the many pledges and promises made by politicians on behalf of nation states, we announced TreesAI - a new infrastructure to help fund, grow and maintain urban forests - which we’re piloting with Glasgow City Council. Mapping of trees within Glasgow territory Urban trees provide multiple services for the city. Investing in nature is important to reduce climate risks Organogram of the Trees As Infrastructure model Data-driven outcome/impact modelling comparing the estimated future benefits of two different green infrastructure designs Source main image Source texte Domus Air n.4, April 2022

Run by art and architecture practice Public Works, R-Urban brings together local residents and Londoners from across the city who are interested in ecological issues. Using shipping containers housed in a disused car park, R-Urban is a workshop, training and event series that provides space for green experimentation for solutions to London’s biggest environmental challenges, such as poor air quality and waste management. The site includes a workshop, kitchen, anaerobic digester, tool library and mobile garden, where local people come together to learn new skills and enjoy food. The workshops teach basic construction and making skills, and information on how to recycle and re-use everyday items. Residents can borrow items from the tool library to complete DIY at home, and summer schools at the site test green technologies such as living moss walls. The project is working towards a local, sustainable energy model, collectively managed by community members, and provides new opportunities for training and employment. Source images Source of text

Platform is different. We combine art, activism, education and research in one organisation. This approach enables us to create unique projects driven by the need for social and ecological justice. Platform’s current campaigns focus on the social, economic and environmental impacts of the global oil industry. Our pioneering education courses, exhibitions, art events and book projects promote radical new ideas that inspire change. How we work is important to us. We operate through collective decision-making. Our team includes campaigners, artists and researchers who act together and with networks to achieve long-term, systemic goals. Everyone in Platform is committed to our core values of justice, solidarity, creativity and democracy. source text Photo: Platform London Photo: Platform London Photo: Sokari Douglas Camp, Battle Bus Memorial for Ken Saro Wiwa, 2005, acier inoxydable, 310 cm de haut, Courtesy Sokari Douglas Camp, © ADAGP, Paris

Art in the shape of a drinks company Company Drinks is a community space and social enterprise based in Barking and Dagenham, where we make drinks with and for each other. Company Drinks started out in 2014 to bring people back together through the act of picking and reconnecting with local green spaces and nearby countryside. Company Drinks is now a co-working space and an expanding network of users, collaborators and partners, who come together to pick, grow, make, learn, unlock and share the resources and knowledge around us. Like the seasons, Company Drinks changes and adapts, and is shaped by those who are involved. We collaborate and champion the ideas of those around us, encourage each other to re-imagine new ways of working, trading and existing together, through conversation, care and good company. Company Drinks was set up as an art commission, and registered as a Community Interest Company in 2015. We see ourselves as part of a larger community-focused ecosystem of care that strives for an equal, just and non-discriminatory world. Company Drinks Diagram Hop Picking day Company Drink Bar Healy Food Initiative Source text: Company Drinks Source Images: Company Drinks