Public Reactions to New Street Tree Planting

Urban Forests ◽  
2016 ◽  
pp. 93-124
Keyword(s):  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rita Sousa-Silva ◽  
Elyssa Cameron ◽  
Alain Paquette

As the climate continues to warm and the world becomes more urbanized, our reliance on trees and the benefits they provide is rapidly increasing. Many cities worldwide are planting trees to offset rising temperatures, trap pollutants, and enhance environmental and human health and well-being. To maximize the benefits of planting trees and avoid further increasing social inequities, a city needs to prioritize where to establish trees by first identifying those areas of greatest need. This work aims to demonstrate a spatially explicit approach for cities to determine these priority locations to achieve the greatest returns on specific benefits. Criteria for prioritization were developed in tandem with the City of Joliette, Canada, and based on nine indicators: surface temperature, tree density, vegetation cover, resilience, tree size and age, presence of species at risk, land use type, socioeconomic deprivation, and potential for active transportation. The City’s preferences were taken into account when assigning different weights to each indicator. The resulting tree planting priority maps can be used to target street tree plantings to locations where trees are needed most. This approach can be readily applied to other cities as these criteria can be adjusted to accommodate specific tree canopy goals and planning constraints. As cities are looking to expand tree canopy, we hope this work will assist in sustaining and growing their urban forest, enabling it to be more resilient and to keep providing multiple and sustained benefits where they are needed the most.


2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 4192 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bohong Zheng ◽  
Komi Bernard BEDRA ◽  
Jian Zheng ◽  
Guoguang Wang

Along with global climate change and the worldwide heat island phenomenon, developing climatic methods and planning practices for the benefit of thermal comfort is of increasing interest. Studies have focused on urban streets, studying the aspect ratio, the orientation, street vegetation patterns, etc. and how they affect thermal comfort. While the role of vegetation is undeniable, this paper asks the question whether the effects of a tree configuration does not vary under different street configurations, and if yes, how to select tree species and determine their appropriate layout. Here, an analytical framework is proposed to test the different tree configurations (changing one variable at a time) with the least favorable street configuration. It is confirmed that the east–west oriented streets are the least favorable cases and denser tree canopies are better for cooling. The interval between the trees are observed to have an optimal effect when it is equal to the crown width at maturity. Furthermore, the results show that the heat mitigation rate of a tree configuration is not linearly improved by the Aspect Ratio (AR). In the case of Shantou city, the improvement of thermal comfort slows down when the AR reaches 1.5 while Mangifera indica planted with 10 m intervals is recommended among the common street-tree species. Other species could be used also, but should meet the requirements of the canopy density and the interval of layout. The paper does not consider other configuration options such as asymmetrical cases of street geometry and one-side or axial tree planting, etc., but the framework allows for adding such options and simulating thermal comfort for a greater number of scenarios.


2007 ◽  
Vol 33 (4) ◽  
pp. 231-245
Author(s):  
Christian Nielsen ◽  
Oliver Bühler ◽  
Palle Kristoffersen

Soil water dynamics were studied in 100 street tree planting pits and in the soil surrounding five park trees. Volumetric soil water content and stem cross-sectional area increment were measured on both park and street trees. Different levels of irrigation were implemented on the 100 street trees. Winter assessments of soil wetness at field capacity showed that the water retention capacity was lower in street planting pits than in the park soil attributable to the rather coarse substrate used in the planting pits. High variability among street tree planting pits in regard to water retention capacity was determined and may be related to poor standardization of the substrates, but may also be affected by varying drainage conditions. The rate of water loss in the street tree planting pits was very high immediately after rainfall or irrigation and decreased exponentially during the first 10 days after water input. This was attributed to rapid drainage. The water loss rate in the park soil was on average slightly higher than in the nonirrigated control street pits but showed a more linear decrease over time. We concluded that the water loss in the park soil during summer was primarily driven by transpiration of trees (above 10 L/day [2.6 gal/day]), which complies with common Danish forest experience. The relationship between water loss and tree growth was reversed in the street tree planting pits. The street trees did consume water for growth, but growth and transpiration of the street trees were not a noticeably driving mechanism in the planting pit hydrology. The large variation in street tree increment is attributed to the variation among street planting pits in their ability to retain water. The faster the water loss rate, the slower the tree growth. Irrigation did not prevent final depletion of the soil water resource in planting pits, but irrigation elevated the water content for limited periods during the growing season and thereby enhanced tree growth. Besides the obvious possibilities for improved water balance by horizontal and vertical expansion of the rooting zone, we also suggest improving the water retention capacity of planting pit soil by adding clay nodules. Options for continuous monitoring of tree vitality and soil water content to optimize maintenance are discussed.


2015 ◽  
Vol 41 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dexter Locke ◽  
Lara Roman ◽  
Colleen Murphy-Dunning

Many cities are making substantial capital investments in urban tree planting. Residents play active and diverse roles in enhancing and protecting the urban forest, and are therefore critical to many municipal-level policy objectives. The way residents perceive and value the urban forest can have implications for achieving urban forestry goals through residents and volunteers. However, urban residents are not a monolithic block or homogenous category; instead, they have diverse opinions, needs, and constraints. Moreover, relatively little is known about how residents hear about available resources, such as free trees, and decide to ‘opt-in’ to tree planting initiatives, choosing to plant and maintain trees on or near their properties. The focus of this study was to address three questions about participation in a request-driven program that provides free street trees to residents of New Haven, Connecticut, U.S.: 1) Who requests trees through this program? 2) How did the requesters hear about this program? 3) Why did residents request free street trees? Survey respondents were primarily long-term residents of New Haven; mostly learned about the opportunity from their neighbors; and requested a street tree to replace a removed tree, because they value the aesthetics, and to a lesser extent the environmental benefits. Future research should systematically investigate differences between participants and non-participants in local tree planting initiatives, exploring possible trends across cities and programs. Such studies would identify opportunities and barriers to engaging private residents in efforts aimed at increasing canopy.


2003 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jun Yang ◽  
Joe McBride
Keyword(s):  

HortScience ◽  
1994 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 247c-247
Author(s):  
Barbara A. Neal ◽  
Thomas Whitlow

There is broad consensus that we need a greater understanding of the interaction between trees and urban planting sites. This study was conducted to correlate annual increment growth with different street-tree planting specifications, with a primary emphasis on effective rooting volume of soil. The primary site of analysis was Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D. C., with four outlying sites chosen for comparison. From a cohort of 450, a randomly generated sample of 60 Pennsylvania Avenue willow oaks was chosen and increment cores taken at diameter breast height. A total of 60 cores was taken from willow oaks at the comparison sites. The annual incremental growth was measured using a microscope equipped with a computerized stage micrometer. The incremental growth per year in the nursery ranged between 6 and 8 mm and transplant shock generally lasted for 2 to 3 years, until growth regained or exceeded pretransplant levels.


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