Kathrin works as a Research Fellow at AMS Institute and as a Postdoc at TU Delft for the Future Proof Living Environment program. Her role is to shed more light on the growing processes of urban tree roots, which are in conflict with parts of the urban infrastructure, but at the same time are essential for the health of the trees.
As roots are hidden underground, the challenge is to monitor their development without disturbance. There is a toolkit of methods that will be evaluated and combined into a measurement framework. This database will then help to improve the understanding of the hidden underground part of urban trees and can assist in making more informed decisions.
With a background in Geography and Geosciences, Kathrin is a generalist who can connect different disciplines for a more holistic understanding of urban trees. She has worked on the strength of the urban heat island in European cities using thermal satellite images and was working for a German hyperspectral satellite mission focusing on the retrieval of soil properties.
The urban forest is urgently needed to combat the effects of the warming climate, which is even more pronounced in urban areas. More knowledge about trees and especially their underground needs can help to reduce conflicts and, at the same time, reduce the stress that the urban environment puts on the trees. Amsterdam is an ideal case study as the city is willing to experiment, learn, and develop new ways of caring about its urban trees.
“We need to be more aware of tree roots not only if we trip over them.”