The Urban Forest Project

What comes to mind when you hear this phrase: The Urban Forest Project? Planting trees in the inner city? The creation of more green spaces in urban environments for our children to play in? Donation programs to save trees in non-urban areas? Those were my first thoughts when I saw this phrase. But that’s not the case…read on.

The Urban Forest Project was an outdoor exhibition of 185 designer’s vision of the tree, a form that, according to the project’s website, is a metaphor for sustainability. The designs were all made into massive banners and displayed throughout Times Square as a large scale public art installation that was like a graphic forest on an urban canvas. In the spirit of sustainability, all of the banners are being recycled into really cool tote bags (designed by Jack Spade) and sold to the public (for $120). The proceeds from the totes benefit graphic design scholarships and mentoring programs of AIGA to “sustain the next generation of design talent.”



So what the fuh? The name “Urban Forest Project” is a misnomer. They just used the tree to make artwork that would raise money for themselves. This project cares more about artificial representations of trees rather than actual trees. It was just an exploration of the form of the tree, an intellectual juxtaposition of a tree in the urban jungle, without any real benefit for the environment. The time for metaphors and simple alerts about the issues has past.

Thinking like an Econista:
This is a perfect example of why I started Econista. Humankind needs to look at the environment in a different way if we want to solve the climate crisis. Nature is not simply a muse that’s there to inspire art. In order to solve our problems we must make a cultural shift and those who define culture (like graphic designers) are responsible for influencing this shift.

We must make the tree MORE important than art. Or at least equal to art, 50/50 where the benefit to real trees equals the benefit to graphic design students. That would be a great start. We can no longer afford to simply let art imitate life and hope for the best. Especially when we have the capability to do more.