Emma van Lint is a registered Landscape Architect currently working with the City of Launceston as its first Urban Forester. With over fifteen years’ experience in Australia and the UK, she has held senior roles at leading practices including JPW, Arcadia, Scape Design, and Oculus. At the City of Launceston, Emma is leading the delivery of the city’s Urban Greening Strategy, driving data-driven implementation to achieve an ambitious 40% urban canopy target and enhance community wellbeing.

Talk title: Greening Launceston: Cultivating Urban Resilience through Strategic Growth (joint talk with Roxane Bandini)

Urban forests are emerging as critical infrastructure in the face of accelerating climate change, biodiversity loss, and social inequity. This joint presentation showcases an innovative partnership between the City of Launceston and Geoneon, which underpins the development and implementation of Launceston’s first Urban Greening Strategy (2023–2040). The strategy sets an ambitious goal: to more than double canopy cover across the municipality to 40% by 2040.

Geoneon will present the research and technology behind the urban forest mapping process, including the use of high-resolution spatial data to assess canopy cover and urban heat exposure. This analysis enabled the development of a vulnerability index that identifies priority suburbs based on heat risk, demographic sensitivity, and existing green infrastructure, offering a data-driven foundation for decision-making.

The City of Launceston will focus on how this evidence base has enabled a more strategic and accountable delivery model for urban greening. Through the Mayfield Precinct Plan case study, we will demonstrate how canopy data has guided species selection (including the use of climate-resilient and native species), street-level design, and targeted community engagement—particularly around schools and active transport routes.

Together, these contributions illustrate how data, technology, and on-ground expertise can be aligned to shift arboriculture practice from reactive tree management to integrated, long-term urban forest planning. This approach offers a model for other councils aiming to embed innovation in arboriculture and respond proactively to the challenges of a changing urban environment.