Abstract In this paper, we describe the theory and research design for a new collaborative tree-planting initiative in northwest Indiana in the Midwest United States. The CommuniTree initiative is attempting to alleviate some of the social and ecological issues experienced by post-industrial Rust Belt communities. Northwest Indiana was dominated by heavy industry, particularly steel, throughout much of the 20th century, until the decline of manufacturing and the closing of plants in the 1980s and 1990s, causing well-paying jobs to disappear, population to decline, and leaving residential and commercial vacancies and a decimated tax base. The communities in northwest Indiana are still feeling the social, economic, ecological legacies of this post-industrial history, including environmental degradation, high industrial land use and impervious surfaces, and low tree canopy cover, creating air pollution, stormwater quantity and quality, urban heat island issues, among other problems. With a goal of helping alleviate some of these post-industrial challenges, the CommuniTree initiative was launched in 2017. CommuniTree is a new multi-organizational, collaborative urban forestry partnership that engages in grant- and donor-funded tree planting in several underserved northwest Indiana municipalities. The effort is loosely based on the collective impact model. Collective impact is a means of coordinating multiple organizations around a “shared vision” to solve a specific issue – in CommuniTree’s case, the lack of urban forest governance and resources in northwest Indiana compounding the aforementioned post-industrial social and ecological issues. Supported by over a dozen stakeholder groups, CommuniTree plants and cares for trees and engages communities in urban forestry training. This paper describes CommuniTree programming in more detail, as well as presents an applied, transdisciplinary, mixed methods research agenda. Through research with stakeholders, we seek to understand the mechanisms through which CommuniTree activities translate resources into outcomes in the social-ecological context of northwest Indiana and evaluate the sustainability of CommuniTree.

中文翻译：

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评估植树集体影响方法的跨学科、混合方法研究议程：美国印第安纳州西北部的 CommuniTree 计划

摘要 在本文中，我们描述了美国中西部印第安纳州西北部一项新的协作植树计划的理论和研究设计。CommuniTree 计划正试图缓解后工业化锈带社区所经历的一些社会和生态问题。在 20 世纪的大部分时间里，印第安纳州西北部一直以重工业，尤其是钢铁业为主，直到 1980 年代和 1990 年代制造业衰退和工厂关闭，导致高薪工作消失，人口减少，并离开住宅和商业空缺和税基大幅下降。印第安纳州西北部的社区仍然感受到这段后工业历史的社会、经济和生态遗产，包括环境退化、高工业用地和不透水表面，以及低树冠覆盖，造成空气污染、雨水数量和质量、城市热岛问题等问题。为了帮助缓解这些后工业挑战中的一些挑战，CommuniTree 计划于 2017 年启动。 CommuniTree 是一个新的多组织、协作的城市林业伙伴关系，在几个服务不足的印第安纳州西北部从事赠款和捐助者资助的植树活动直辖市。这项工作松散地基于集体影响模型。集体影响是围绕“共同愿景”协调多个组织以解决特定问题的一种手段——在 CommuniTree 的案例中，印第安纳州西北部缺乏城市森林治理和资源，加剧了上述后工业社会和生态问题。在十多个利益相关者团体的支持下，CommuniTree 种植和照顾树木，并让社区参与城市林业培训。本文更详细地描述了 CommuniTree 编程，并提出了一个应用的、跨学科的、混合方法的研究议程。通过与利益相关者的研究，我们试图了解 CommuniTree 活动将资源转化为印第安纳州西北部社会生态环境中的成果的机制，并评估 CommuniTree 的可持续性。