It is estimated that one-third of human population will be living in urban cities by end of 2030, which will lead to emission of substantial air contaminants. Increasing the urban green cover/tree cover as ‘Urban Forests’ only will be able to minimize the deleterious degradation of urban environment. Further, in the context of climate change, urban green will act as potential sink for CO2, thereby mitigating global warming. In a broad sense, the benefits from urban forestry can be grouped into (1) air quality improvement, (2) moderation of temperature, (3) abatement of noise pollution, (4) sequestration of carbon, (5) maintenance of biodiversity, (6) providing social benefits of people’s health and recreational values and (7) supply of forest products to poor urban dwellers and fodder to cattle. Besides these benefits, urban forests will also aid in achieving some of sustainable development goals (SDGs) of United Nations. To harness such regional and global benefits from urban forests, a scientific evaluation of species is required to aid in choosing appropriate tree species for the given environmental conditions, particularly for the release of organic compounds of volatile nature (VOCs) and for their air pollution tolerance. Once suitable tree species are selected, the major activities to be followed are (1) having urban tree nurseries to supply certified quality planting materials produced from superior trees, (2) adopting innovative planting techniques suiting to the urban environment in which seedlings will be planted and (3) having definite planning for management of planted tree seedlings particularly for watering and monitoring and managing pests and diseases. Community participation is an important dimension of any successful urban greening programme. Some of the most successful community-lead urban forestry programmes are Tree City USA, Tree Canada, Greening Chandigarh, Vanathukkul Tirupur (Tirupur city within forest) which can be adopted to achieve a minimum green space of 9 m2 per person as prescribed by Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (UN-FAO). A sound legal framework complimented with appropriate powers to the designated authorities of urban planning would foster healthy and people friendly urban surroundings and green spaces.