The Sustainable Forest Management workshop engages students in understanding, applying, analyzing, discussing, critically evaluating, and integrating key practices, theories, scientific developments, and socio-cultural perspectives regarding sustainable forest management. Particular attention is given to the context of climate change, carbon neutrality, resource security, biodiversity, and ecological resilience, alongside human health and wellbeing, through the use of forest products in the built environment.

This week-long format offers an intensive introduction to sustainable forest management from multiple perspectives—including ecologists, biologists, wood engineers, and practicing forest managers—both within the Valldaura Estate and more broadly across the EU. Students will experience firsthand the selection, harvesting (tentative), and processing of trees, connecting these practices to the use of timber in architectural and ecological design.

One of the first interactions, and often among the most impactful, that architects and designers have with the environments of their projects is in specifying and sourcing building materials. Natural materials, such as timber, rely directly on the forests or other corresponding ecosystems from which they are extracted. Modern forestry standards ensure a continuous cycle of growing, harvesting and replanting. Demand for wood products encourages forest owners to keep their lands as forests and invest in practices to keep trees healthy – instead of clearing them for other uses like agriculture or development. Data shows that global regions with the highest levels of industrial timber harvest and forest product output are also regions with the lowest rates of deforestation. Active forest management, or forest thinning, mitigates wildfires, can cut carbon emissions, replenishes area waterways, and expands wildlife habitat while creating jobs in rural areas.