Street trees have had a prominent role in Vetlandas history from the turn of the century up to present day. Many trees have unfortunately been taken away through the ages, but most of them luckily remains and most of the streets in central Vetlanda are still tree lined.
The comprehensive inventory that has been made shows that lime is the dominant species in Vetlanda with no less than 62 %. The age division is quite even with one peak at the turn of the century, one during the ‘60s and another during the ‘90s. The city has luckily a limited amount of trees susceptible to serious illnesses. In general the trees are in pretty good condition but many of them have injuries on the stems.
The majority of the street trees have been planted in districts from the beginning of the twentieth century. In the younger districts just a few streets are tree lined, which depends on changing ideals in city planning.
In the more detailed inventory the idea was to investigate which factors that affect the experience you get when you walk or drive past/through a street planting. I also wanted to investigate how the trees relate to the surroundings with scale, proportions, distance between the trees etc.
Based on this inventory I mean that a large-scale environment needs big trees to reduce the scale to a human level, but a small-scale environment can work good both with big and small trees. It’s very important though that the proportions correspond so that the trees aren’t to small compared with the height of the buildings beside them or the width of the street room. Further I want to say that a longer planting gives a stronger experience compared with a shorter if they otherwise are similar. More important than the length however is that the planting has a motivated and fine beginning and ending.
In my work I have divided the plantings in different types namely; tree row, avenue, esplanade, solitary tree and tree group. These give various impressions, which you should have in mind when designing a planting. A solitary tree for example seems to work mainly as a landmark while a tree row, avenue or an esplanade work mainly pointing out a direction. The tree row is the weakest element among the three and the esplanade the strongest.
When it comes to distances between the trees in a planting it should be decided of which kind of experience you want it to deliver. A longer distance is suitable when you want transparency and a good connection between the areas on both sides of the street. On the other hand a closer planting gives a nicer perspective and creates a stronger shape than a sparse planting. It also binds the area along the street together. A critical point is when the tree crowns grow together. The trees then forms a whole, instead of single trees. A closer planting also creates a stronger room feeling when you move through it. To create a strong room feeling the trees shouldn’t be planted to far away from the street border. If they are planted close together whey will probably grow together over the street and give a feeling of a tunnel when you move through it.
When it comes to scale and proportion a wide street room has been a bigger problem than high buildings in Vetlanda. Small trees don’t succeed in diminishing the scale of the environment. As Kerstin Lönnhag states in her degree thesis The trees importance to the street I also claim that trees should be at least half the height of the buildings beside but it’s even better if they are the same height or higher.
In the final chapter proposals and ideas are presented for the future work with the street trees in Vetlanda. The city has an unusual richness of trees compared with similar cities. The street trees should be highlighted as one of the cities most important qualities and should be preserved and developed to contribute to the cities future attraction and beauty. The city has been called ”the city of the avenues” in former time. Why not let the city retrieve this name and let the characteristic pollarded limes become an insignia for the city?
In the perspective of city planning it’s important that no trees are planted by chance but with consideration of the environment so that the trees strengthen different district’s special character. Proposals are presented over which plantings that should be prioritised and which streets that need new plantings.
Three different principals of de...
