The Fight to Save Copenhagen's Urban Trees

Since 2013, the group Save the Urban Trees (Red Byens traær in Danish) has been fighting to protect Copenhagen’s trees from being needlessly felled for construction, or simply killed slowly by poor planning and slapdash conservation.

Starting with a series of micro-fights saving trees one street corner at a time, the group has grown into a small but increasingly influential force, by encouraging decision-makers to think harder about how city works affect Copenhagen’s plant life. By helping to instigate Copenhagen’s first citywide tree policy this year, the group may have put an end to the worst excesses of local real estate developers and reshaped the future look of the city. This success that may be driven further home by grand plans for 2017. CityLab caught up with Sandra Høj, the group’s co-founder, at the end of what’s been the group’s most effective year yet.