Cities4Forests

Providing resources, research data, tools and project proofs-of-concept from best practice experts to city planners and conservationists worldwide.

Cities4Forests, a key initiative of the World Resources Institute, is a global alliance of 84 cities. The mission: to help conserve, restore, and sustainably manage the world’s forests for the benefit of all.

Their website was in extreme need of a redesign. As the mission of Cities4Forests expanded and changed, the website hadn’t kept up. The design and content were dated, and the structure didn’t meet the complex needs of the evolved organization. In addition, there were many people throughout WRI and Cities4Forests who needed to buy into repositioning and redesign, from senior leadership to the brand team to the IT departments.

We met the challenge of the expedited timeline and limited budget by recommending a unique, nimble approach. We jumped right in to reposition the organization and completely redesign the website. First, we assessed the different needs of a wide range of target audiences, from city planners to grassroots activists, to recommend an intuitive information architecture. Then, we reorganized the myriad of projects, resources, events, and press releases, creating a complex but easy-to-use system for organizing information with a structured library and clear protocols for tagging. Throughout, we worked carefully with our project leaders, collaborated with other departments, and arranged for three rounds of review with leadership and brand teams to ensure alignment and buy-in.

The result: hundreds of pages, about a dozen unique layouts, and a way to organize information that supports 20 different projects, 57 resources, 32 tools, 72 team members, and 174 press items—just to name a few. The new site is 508 compliant and exceeds standards for accessibility and speed.

Industry: EnvironmentNonprofit / Association

Client: World Resources International (WRI)

Website: https://cities4forests.com