Arch. Myriam B. Mahiques Curriculum Vitae

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

When trees have a negative (?) urban impact

Newcastle, Australia. Image downloaded from http://www.luxuo.com/travel/l

I was working once for a case about trees, beautiful old pines that blocked the view of the City of Los Angeles at a property on hill side. Both homeowners, on the trees' ground and above, were involved in legal issues.
The pines where trimmed (chopped I'd say), they looked like amputated, but the homeowner with the view could see Los Angeles far away and considered the value of his property was increased.
I love cities with trees, my native city, Buenos Aires is full of them, you walk in between trees and it's a nice sensation. Let's see what's going on in Newcastle, Australia: 

 Newcastle, Australia, should be crowned the world capital of tree drama. Residents there in recent months have shown such intense love and complete disdain for trees that one has to wonder whether there's anything else important going on in Newcastle beyond its flora. The latest dose of Newcastle tree-sanity results from a plan to plant 30,000 trees throughout the city. For local politicians, such projects are often an easy way claim credit for something undeniably popular. But in the Stockton section of Newcastle, this seemingly feel-good proposition has brought locals to their feet in protest and put the city council on an unexpectedly hot set of seats. "There are no parts of Stockton, no people in Stockton that are going to benefit from these trees," resident Bob Dein told the Newcastle Herald. It's hard to imagine a neighborhood where more trees would be a bad thing, but for residents of seaside Stockton, new trees mean a reduced view. Dein and about 50 other residents have signed a petition protesting the tree proposal, arguing that the plantings will negatively impact their views of the ocean and, as a result, their property values.

Keep on reading Nate Berg's article:

No comments:

Post a Comment

LinkWithin

Related Posts with Thumbnails