Florida Woodlands

Visual communication design plays a fundamental role in effectively disseminating messages and creating meaningful connections between people and their surroundings. In the current context, where urban areas face numerous environmental challenges, the Florida Department of Public Trees Program (PDA) is presented as a valuable initiative to improve the city's quality of life.

This ecosystem of state institutions and NGOs linked to urban trees identified a need among the population for shade, lower temperatures, beautification, and increased real estate value in the city center of Florida. Therefore, the Departmental Council for the Defense of Public Trees will be established and, through a decree from the Florida Departmental Board, the aforementioned Program will be implemented. Through its Communication Project (hereinafter PC-PDA) and the Florida Arbolada brand, we seek to clearly and attractively convey the benefits of urban trees, promote their care, and encourage active community participation in the conservation and expansion of green areas in our city.

We will explore the importance of trees and their impact on the environment, as well as the need for effective visual communication to promote and raise community awareness on this issue. We will also highlight the specific objectives that will guide our work and the methodologies we will use to achieve them.

As we move forward with this project, we will face challenges and opportunities that will lead us to seek creative and strategic solutions to achieve the desired results. It will be essential to integrate principles of graphic design, visual communication, and, why not, knowledge of urban trees to develop a solid and compelling proposal.

This PC-PDA seeks to combine creativity and visual communication design with a commitment to improving our urban environment. We seek to inform, raise awareness, and motivate the community to actively engage in the conservation and promotion of urban trees.

The PC-PDA is an academic proposal of the Bachelor of Visual Communication Design at the Faculty of Architecture (UdelaR) in the field of government communication. This is a campaign for the newly appointed Council, made up of a variety of public and private entities, which will project environmental and educational actions for one year following the approval of the Council's creation by the Departmental Board. This PC-PDA uses the central area of the city of Florida as a pilot project, and will continue with the rest of the department (localities and rural areas).

This Communication Project, with a prior sociocultural study, is hypothetically applicable to any Uruguayan city with approximately 25,000 to 50,000 inhabitants, as many share sociocultural characteristics and the same tree problems. For this PFC, we will focus on the city of Florida (33,639 inhabitants as of June 2023), whose reality is tangible and evident.
Currently, the problem of the lack of sufficient trees in the city has more than one facet, and each one has different approaches. The departmental government's inaction on high-impact tree projects results in the absence of communication campaigns, a lack of awareness of the benefits, and a hypothetical lack of awareness of tree care among residents, as well as vandalism in parks and squares.