A Botany and Arboriculture Handbook: Notes on Course, MSc in Landscape Architecture - Land Heritage, Politecnico di Milano

This book brings together seven years of notes from the Botany and Arboriculture lectures delivered within the integrated course Conservation and Management of Historic Gardens and Landscapes, part of the Master's Programme in Landscape Architecture - Landscape Heritage at the Politecnico di Milano. The Botany and Arboriculture course was conceived to provide students with the theoretical foundations and practical skills necessary to design, enhance, and preserve green spaces as essential components of the urban landscape. Content ranges from tree biology, physiology, and soil science to root care, pruning techniques, the diagnosis of tree diseases and structural defects, and the principles of green monitoring and urban ecosystem services. Particular attention is devoted to applied botany and to the methods of botanical survey used to document, evaluate, and interpret historic gardens. Its purpose is to foster an understanding of the complexity of urban greenery and to develop competencies in surveying, mapping, analysis, evaluation, conservation, and adaptive reuse, particularly in the context of historic gardens, bridging scientific rigor with practical fieldwork.