Joe McBride ( Professor of Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning) will lecture about the urban forests of Johannesburg, Lagos, and Cairo which were surveyed to provide a data base for a comparison of their composition, structure, and condition. Tree species diversity in these three urban forests was compared to the species diversity of trees in each biome in which the city occurred and to climatic parameters of each biome to measure the correlation between urban forest characteristics and the characteristics of the biomes. Structure of the urban forest was examined in relation to historical precedents for urban design in each city. Current problems of urban forest condition and management will be discussed. 

This lecture is part of the Colloquium series sponsored by the Berkeley African Network for the Built Environment. For more information about this research unit visit http://berkeleyafricannetwork.org/