Research through multi-species ethnography and creative practice

My research is immersed in the Upfield Urban Forest (UUF), a guerrilla gardening group in Bulleke-bek (Brunswick, Melbourne) working on the vision of a continuous green urban wildlife corridor through Brunswick from Royal Park connecting to the northern suburbs. The forest follows the Upfield Train line and is planted in the spaces in between the railway line and council managed land. Some of the earliest plantings were in 1993 which has transformed Jewel Station from a barren landscape to a shady local park. The Upfield Forest is all the work of local volunteers.
In 2019, the Victorian Government’s infrastructure project LXR (Level Crossing Removal) commenced raising the Upfield train line between Moreland and Coburg Stations. Despite community feedback and protests, most of the mature trees in Gandolfo Gardens next to Moreland Station were removed. Of approximately 40 trees, only 4 were retained. Historical train infrastructure has been preserved, restored and celebrated through interpretive markers.
In mid 2024, Victorian Government confirmed plans to raise the rest of the train line through Brunswick from Royal Park to Moreland Station. Based on the experience of Moreland Station, the Upfield gardeners are faced with the reality that many more trees along the train line will be lost.
Construction is preceded by de-struction. Trees are removed as they are in the way of construction equipment and materials. Then later replaced. The urban context becomes a space of regular replacement. In the urban context trees are seen as decorative and valued primarily through the eco-systems services they provide to people, such as shade. Re-planting is often landscaped in a particular pattern without community involvement.
The stories and relationships created through planting trees and become but invisible to a society that values trees as urban furniture or by services provided such as shade.
Through ethnography and creative practice research, with a lens of living systems and complexity, I am exploring our relationship to these trees through multiple perspectives and scales, from the macro to micro. The aim is to document these stories, the relationship of community to the urban forest they have nurtured, and to honour these forests as culturally, ecologically and socially significant.