Just Start a Forest

Our cities are getting hotter. At the same time, they contain a surprising number of spaces where almost nothing happens.

A patch of lawn next to a school. A vacant lot near a train station. The edge of a parking area. An empty corner between residential buildings. Two hundred square metres here, five hundred there.

That is not much space for a traditional park.

But it can be enough for a small forest.

This is precisely where the strength of the Tiny Forest idea lies. It does not wait for ten hectares of land to suddenly become available. It takes small spaces seriously and asks a remarkably practical question: What could grow here?

Increasingly, the answer is: a forest.

The idea comes from Japan. In Germany, it is continuing to evolve

Japanese plant ecologist Akira Miyawaki developed a method in which many different, site appropriate trees and shrubs are planted densely together on a prepared area.

The basic principle is easy to understand. The soil is examined and prepared. Different woody plants are selected. The young plants are placed close together. After a more intensive initial phase, the vegetation increasingly takes over.

Individual seedlings are intended to develop into a small forest community.

Several initiatives in Germany are now working with this idea. They are not simply copying Miyawaki. They are adapting the approach to German cities, soils, plants and possibilities.

MIYA forest e. V. shows how quickly an idea can become a movement

MIYA forest e. V. is one of the most visible organisations working in this field in Germany. The association combines planting projects with environmental education, research and public participation.

Its own figures are now considerable: more than 40 Tiny Forests created, over 38,500 trees and shrubs planted, around 16,500 square metres of urban land greened and more than 2,900 people involved.

That last figure is at least as interesting as the number of trees. A Tiny Forest often takes shape in front of the people who will later walk past it. School students plant. Neighbours help. Employees of a company pick up spades. Children later measure trees or look for insects.

The forest is not simply created somewhere.

It becomes a shared project.

MIYA forest e. V. therefore describes its sites as socio ecological laboratories. In a multi year research project, ten Tiny Forests in Berlin Brandenburg and the Rhine Main region are being studied. Researchers are examining soil, biodiversity, microclimate and social effects. Citizens collect data and observe how the sites change. The report on the first year of research also describes a strong sense of community forming around the forests being studied.

The small forest therefore gains a second function.

It creates opportunities to experience nature.

A Tiny Forest suddenly makes urban development visible

That may sound abstract until you picture a specific site.

In Darmstadt, 60 school students planted 630 young trees and shrubs on an area of around 200 square metres. In Berlin Hellersdorf, a Tiny Forest was created on difficult ground consisting largely of construction rubble, where rainwater had previously struggled to seep into the soil. The ground was deliberately prepared before planting began.

These are precisely the kinds of places that are interesting.

An established city park does not need a Tiny Forest. And an old tree certainly should not be removed simply to plant young trees next to it.

But a compacted leftover space, an unremarkable lawn or part of a former parking area?

That changes the calculation.

The area could continue to be mown for another twenty years.

Or we could find out what happens when hundreds of woody plants are allowed to grow there.

Citizens Forests e. V. turns reforestation into a citizen movement

Citizens Forests e. V. from Bönningstedt places even greater emphasis on people taking action themselves.

The association was founded in 2019 and expresses its goal in wonderfully simple terms: planting trees should become a natural part of social life. The organisation advises other groups, organises planting campaigns and makes its practical knowledge publicly available. This includes a Miyawaki method adapted to German conditions, planting guides and even a tree list that can be used to distribute woody plants across a site.

It represents a small revolution in the way we think.

Urban greenery is no longer exclusively the responsibility of specialist authorities, landscape architects and large planning processes. Professional knowledge remains necessary. Sites have to be assessed and plants selected sensibly. But citizens can participate.

In Hamburg Wandsbek, Citizens Forests and volunteers planted 428 native trees and shrubs on just 180 square metres. In Quickborn, 2,655 woody plants from 34 native tree and shrub species were planted across 850 square metres. Seventy five people helped.

Spectators become participants.

Even 60 square metres can suddenly become interesting

Tinyforestberlin takes this idea even further.

The Berlin based association plants nano forests in the city to support biodiversity and the urban climate. Very small woodland habitats are created using native deciduous species. Such forest islands have been established in Neukölln and Spandau, while a project in Marienfelde comes close to a classic Tiny Forest according to the association.

Once again, this changes the perspective.

The question is no longer simply: Where can we plant a forest?

It becomes: How small can an area be before we stop seeing it as potential habitat for nature?

For densely built cities in particular, this is an exciting question.

Because small spaces are everywhere.

We do not need to make Tiny Forests bigger than they are in order to be enthusiastic about them

A 300 square metre forest will not cool an entire city.

A three year old Tiny Forest cannot replace a hundred year old urban tree.

A planting campaign will not solve either the climate crisis or the loss of biodiversity.

And young trees need water, care and a properly prepared site.

But:

When someone puts up a sunshade, they are not claiming to cool down the entire summer. They are creating shade in one particular place.

Tiny Forests can be understood in a similar way.

If a small woodland later makes a schoolyard more pleasant, provides food for insects, allows rainwater to infiltrate the soil, introduces children to nature and turns an insignificant piece of land into a living place, it has already achieved a great deal.

It does not need superlatives to do that.

Our cities contain millions of square metres that we barely think about.

Leftover spaces. Marginal areas. Setback spaces. Lawns. Traffic islands. Land around schools, businesses, residential developments and public buildings.

Individually, they appear insignificant.

Tiny Forests reverse that perspective.

Two hundred square metres suddenly become enough to begin.

Five hundred square metres become an opportunity.

One thousand square metres suddenly seem generous.

The supposed weakness of small spaces becomes their strength: many projects can be imagined at the same time.

Not every place needs a Tiny Forest. Some sites are better suited to meadows, open habitats, large individual trees, water retention or other forms of urban greenery.

But many places could already be greener than they are today.

There is no need to wait for the perfect plan for the green city of 2050.

You need a suitable site.

You need knowledge.

You need plants.

And a few people willing to begin.

Then you plant.

The rest grows.

Just get started.

Sources

MIYA forest e. V. (2026): Together with Enthusiasm for a Living Earth.
https://miya-forest.de/

Scharfe, Stefan; Hernández Morcillo, Mónica; Möller, Caspar (2024): Socio-Ecological Tiny Forest Research Project.Andrea von Braun Foundation.
https://www.avbstiftung.de/sozial-oekologisches-tiny-forest-forschungsprojekt/

Möller, Caspar (2025): Plant Selection in a Changing Climate. MIYA forest e. V., 8 July 2025.
https://miya-forest.de/pflanzenauswahl-im-klimawandel/

Citizens Forests e. V. (n.d.): The Miyawaki Method.
https://www.citizens-forests.org/miyawaki-methode/

Citizens Forests e. V. (2026): We Make Forests.
https://www.citizens-forests.org/

Tinyforestberlin e. V. (n.d.): Nature Conservation for People in the City.
https://www.tinyforestberlin.de/

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