Extending Human–Nature Relationships Through an Urban Pocket Forest in Malmö’s Augustenborg Neighbourhood

Green spaces in residential areas can promote health and well-being and are formative for how children and their families relate to place, each other and nature. Many residential areas in Sweden were built during the postwar era, with extensive green open space and networks of accessible paths for pedestrians, bicycles, and children’s play, embedded in the structure. After several decades of densification through infill housing and facing climate-related challenges (e.g., need for shade, stormwater management, heat mitigation), biodiversity-positive green interventions have been suggested to stabilise local ecosystems and increase residential satisfaction.  Urban pocket forests in the form of compact, multi-layered plantings of multiple species are emerging as a potential nature-based solution (NbS) for enhancing ecological functions and everyday human–nature interactions in dense urban areas. Between 2025 and 2026, a municipal housing company in Sweden is collaborating with a non-profit nature-conservation association to work with residents to establish an urban pocket forest (based on the Miyawaki method) in the courtyard of one of their housing estates. Through fieldwork, workshops, and interviews, this study investigates how such micro-forests contribute to desirable futures by enhancing cohabitation between humans and nature at the neighbourhood level. More specifically, this study explores how residents (and schoolchildren) perceive and collaboratively imagine these futures, and how they make sense of human-nature relationships within this new ecological element integrated in their neighbourhood outdoor environment, and what role this space plays in reshaping the patterns of everyday life across time and space. By incorporating participatory methods into landscape design processes, we examine how small-scale NbS can foster imagination and help achieve biodiversity-positive urban futures while reflecting local values, rights, and experiences. The outcome will prototype the implementation of multispecies residential landscapes, focusing on the interface between people and nature in everyday urban settings.  These prototypes will include inclusive design and management strategies that are appealing to diverse groups and gain broad acceptance.