Urban street tree plantings: identifying the key requirements

Abstract

Trees fulfil important aesthetic, social and environmental functions in urban areas. However, tree life is increasingly under stress, leading to poor vitality and tree decline, particularly in urban streets. The requirements for healthy tree life are broadly known. Criteria for the design of planting sites in streets, choice of tree species and maintenance requirements are outlined in the paper. However, a European survey reveals the wide variance of tree planting and management practice. UK cities and towns performed poorly against criteria such as level of expenditure for trees, street tree quality and site preparation. Evidently, trees are very much undervalued and only an afterthought in the process of planning, design and management of streets. There is an urgent need to develop and apply comprehensive concepts for sustainable urban forests and specifically for street tree plantings. Standards for site planning, as well as increased knowledge of suitable tree species and tree quality standards are key to achieving this goal. Information on best practice needs to be more widely disseminated. The European pilot survey was a first step towards establishing an information network across Europe to collect the information needed for this purpose. There is a need for close collaboration between civil engineers and landscape architects from a very early stage to integrate tree plantings into the design of streets, in order to maximise their benefits and avoid potential conflicts with traffic and utilities.