How To Save Your City’s Trees

The presence of trees in cities can make a positive difference in so many ways.

Urban trees improve the quality of city life by filtering the air, preventing soil erosion and providing habitats for urban birds and pollinators. Trees are also aesthetically pleasing and allow people to reconnect with nature despite their busy lives.

Communities appreciate greenery in their local suburbs because it can have a calming effect and has even been shown to reduce illnesses.

To optimise all of these benefits, different cities across the world are now classing trees as valuable assets and are undertaking tree planting and tree canopy restoration programmes.

Here’s how different global cities are placing a greater focus on healthy tree growth in urban spaces.

How are cities saving their trees?

The government of New South Wales has taken the first step in saving their local city trees by launching their 50-Year Vision for Greater Sydney’s network of parklands and green open spaces initiative.

This program involves tree revitalisation across 6,000 hectares of parks and open spaces, which include Centennial Park and Moore Park Trust, Parramatta Park Trust, Western Sydney Parklands Trusts, Callan Park and Fernhill Estate. In fact, a $10 million budget was already invested to restore the natural beauty of Callan Park in Sydney.

On the other side of the globe – Berlin, one of the greenest cities in Europe, has also been proactively working on growing their city tree population. This was in response to the 20% increase in their annual number of street trees felled since 2018.

To overcome these losses, the city has raised the spending per street tree from €48 to €82. Their local government has also taken advantage of modern technology to encourage residents to manage and maintain city trees themselves.

They developed The Gieß den Kiez (Water the Neighbourhood), which is an interactive platform that displays a map of over 600,000 city trees, providing necessary information about recent rainfall, species of trees, their age and water needs. This app enables citizens to keep an eye on their local trees and water them when needed.

Aside from Sydney and Berlin, other cities have also been increasing their planting efforts to nurture greener city spaces for future generations.

How can you save your city’s trees?

City trees can be cultivated to prosper in many different ways.

For instance, local councils can perform a site assessment to ensure that trees are provided with an environment that’s conducive for healthy growth. Selecting the appropriate tree species and improving urban soil can also ensure that trees will survive and thrive over the longer term.

Many cities and suburbs are starting to make investing into trees a priority, due to the range of benefits trees offer local communities.

We’re here to help!

At Citygreen, we provide you with expert guidance and the best urban landscape solutions to help you transform grey spaces into green cities.

To learn more about how we can make your cities greener and better, head to https://citygreen.com/solutions/