“The trees importance to the street” discusses just that, the trees importance to the street. The purpose of this paper has been to examine what influence the trees have on streets. By writing about good examples of how trees can add good qualities to a street I wish to inspire to more use of trees in future city-planning.
I have examined three streets in Malmö and three streets in Berlin and analyzed the trees influences there through the help of literature by three authors: Great Streets (1993) and The Boulevard Book (2002) by Allan B. Jacobs, Trees in Urban Design (1993) by Henry F. Arnold, and City Planning According to Artistic Principles (1909) by Camillo Sitte. Trees and their different qualities and influences is handled in the chapters: The trees symbolism, The trees aesthetics, Identity, Trees as room shapers, Trees & the City and Species & Ecology.
The examined streets in Malmö are: Kungsgatan, Regementsgatan and Mjölnaregatan.
In Berlin I looked closer at Unter den Linden, Lychener strasse and Am Tempelhofer Berg. The streets physical environment is described in text, sections and plans. The trees influences on each street is described separately along with a sketch. A fictional dialogue between me and the tree authors, enlivens the analysis of the trees influences on the streets.
In the chapter Tree- and Green plans I have looked at how Gothenburgs Tree policy and Malmös Tree- and Green plan view trees in the city. None of them really mention the trees influences in the city or how they function as city-planning element, even though they said themselves to do so.
What I arrive at in my paper is that how the trees influence has very much to do with the surroundings it co-operates with. The relations is of great importance.
B
ased on measurements taken on the examined streets and comparing them to Jacobs ideal street height – width relation, I have discovered that Jacobs numbers are a bit to tight, at least when it comes to tree lined streets. The trees fill out the space between the houses, they can make wide streets seem narrower, and narrow streets seem wider.
I have also compared tree and house height based on Arnolds statement that the trees should follow the houses scale. Through this I have seen that the streets that have trees and houses about the same height are those who has the best experience. The very best experienced street is the one where the trees are slightly higher than the houses.
Regarding placing and spacing it’
s hard to draw conclusions, since these have been very much alike in all the examined streets (except for one street where the trees were placed both with smaller and greater spacing).
Trees planted along streets lined with houses often have similar influences because of the similar room they’re influencing upon: they give the street a roo...
