Quote:
Originally Posted by flar
^^I'm a big fan of trees on main streets. I always like the trees around Gore Park in Hamilton (cut down a few years ago). Recently in Barcelona (not a small town obviously) I was struck by the large trees lining almost every street (they look like sycamores). A great example of trees making the downtown awesome is San Luis Obispo in California. The residential streets through the Prairies have a great canopy of elms, imagine if downtown streets had the same. I would like to see more trees in Ontario towns especially.
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I think urban street trees are important in the right context. In Spain, I can totally see why they're welcome; the urban landscape is hard and stoney and, for much of the year, the sun is relelentless. Trees soften the landscape and filter out the harsh rays of the sun.
We have the opposite conditions, though: our urban landscape is a bit too sprarse and suburban, and for much of the year we would welcome as much sunlight as possible.
I think residential streets should, as a general rule, have trees, no matter how dense they are. But our commercial streets should be unabashedly commercial.
There are other things that I don't like about street trees on commercial roads: they take up space that blocks passage; they attract birds that then drop shit everywhere; their roots lift up the sidewalk. They are expensive to plant, and difficult to maintain. It is a major operation to clear the streets and sidewalks of their fallen leaves in autumn. They pose a risk in the winter as storms bring down branches. They hide the ornamentation of ornate commercial buildings, which are often best seen from the opposite side of the street. In an environment like Barcelona, these things are definitely outweighed by their benefits, but not in small town Canada.