Humanforest

Humanforest is a concept describing landscapes where human activity and forest ecosystems are interwoven to create a functional mosaic that supports biodiversity, livelihoods, and cultural practices. The term is used in ecological urbanism, landscape design, and conservation planning to emphasize integration of people and forests rather than their separation.

Characteristics of a humanforest include a blend of tree canopy, understory management, and controlled human land uses such as housing, agriculture, and infrastructure arranged to maintain habitat connectivity and ecosystem services. Design approaches often incorporate agroforestry, silvopasture, community forestry, urban and peri-urban forests, and green corridors that weave through settlements. Management tends toward long-term stewardship, participatory governance, and monitoring of biodiversity, carbon storage, water regulation, and microclimate effects.

Applications span city forests and parklands with multi-use trails, forest gardens, and village-scale forest commons. The concept aligns with related practices such as forest gardening, biophilic design, and ecological urbanism, which seek to embed nature more deeply into everyday landscapes while supporting human needs.

Benefits associated with humanforest include enhanced biodiversity, climate resilience, biodiversity, recreational and cultural opportunities, and improved ecosystem services such as air and water quality. Challenges include governance fragmentation, land-tenure complexities, funding, development pressures, and ensuring equitable access and benefit sharing. The term does not denote a single fixed system but a spectrum of approaches aiming to harmonize ecological integrity with human use.

See also: agroforestry, rewilding, forest gardening, urban forestry, biophilic design.