Leafy Lesson Blueprint: Canada’s Urban Forests
We all love trees! And planting trees on public streets has so many benefits. They can buffer wind, stop floods and reduce temperatures in hot weather.
They make areas nicer to live in, and can provide shelter and food for birds and wildlife (and even free food for us, in the form of fruits and nuts). It’s even proven that having more trees in a street, reduces crime rates, likely because it encourages pride in the place people live in.
Read more on no-dig gardening and humane slug/snail deterrents. For public areas, read up on pet-friendly gardens (some trees and conkers are not safe) and avoid netting. Also know trees to avoid near horses (including yew, oak and sycamore).
Mostly in London, keep away from grey/white caterpillars (oak processionary moths) that can cause allergies and breathing difficulties – call a doctor or vet if you come into contact. These trees are cordoned off from horses and livestock (report to your local council and Treealert.
Yet unlike say in Canadian cities and towns, English councils don’t plant nearly anywhere near the trees they do over there. They have whole ‘street tree programs’, where the trees are planted by councils, then local people agree to ‘look after the trees’.
With regular watering and care, and reporting to the council, at the first sign of any disease of damage. Millions of trees have been planted, which of course also gives out more oxygen and reduces carbon dioxide emissions, which helps also to prevent carbon emissions.
London has more trees than people (around 9 million). But how many of these trees are on public streets, is less clear.
Plane trees are the most common, they are huge living statues with hand-shaped leaves, you can’t miss them. And although any pet could become ill if they got too close, these are not one of the ‘main toxic trees’, so a better choice for town planning, than some other species.
Help Your Community to Plant Trees
If the above has inspired you to get involved, contact Trees for Cities, an organisation that can help set up tree-planting programs in your area. You can use the app to see if your council has already signed up. If not, then choose a park or street, then get into action!
The Orchard Project began in London, but now trains volunteers nationwide to plant (and care fore) trees to provide free fruit and nuts for communities. This also helps to restore veteran orchards and create wildlife habitats (leave some fruits for the birds!)
Incredible Edible began in Yorkshire, and is now a worldwide movement to grow and provide free food for communities. Grow herbs at railway stations or vegetable gardens in schools. Local people can help themselves to local fruits off trees, when they want to make a pie!
The Dutch city of Maastricht is lined with enormous trees (the local park is known as The Green Carpet). The trees provide habitats for pipistrelle bats, common swifts, house sparrows and pollinating insects. Road safety has improved, along with air quality and reduced noise pollution.
England’s history of garden cities
Garden cities were inspired by town planner Ebenezer Howard, who wished to bring a better standard of living to crowded cities in the late 19th century, with urban communities enjoying fresh air and greenery.
In the late 1800s, English cities boomed with factories but suffered from noise, smoke, and crowded slums. The countryside, by contrast, offered peace but little work. People packed into grey, squalid neighbourhoods, longing for something better.
If planning garden cities, know trees to avoid near horses (including yew, oak and sycamore), livestock and other animals. Use no-dig gardening to protect wildlife and learn about pet-friendly gardens.
Howard dreamed of places where city and nature worked together. His garden city plan called for:
- Clean air and green parks
- Local jobs close to new homes
- Affordable, well-built houses
- A shared sense of community
- Self-sufficiency, with each city supporting itself
He pictured self-contained towns ringed by green belts, not endless rows of buildings. These towns could offer fresh air, safety, and friendship, without losing the life of a busy city.
What sparked the garden city movement?
In many late Victorian cities, families lived packed into small rooms. Soot settled on window sills by breakfast. Wash hung out to dry came back speckled. Children played where carts, ash, and puddles met. Green space existed, but it often sat far away, or behind railings.
People walked long distances to work, or paid fares they could barely spare. Meanwhile, factories and homes pressed against each other, because landowners made more money by squeezing more rent from less space. Bad drains and shared toilets turned illness into a neighbour, not a rare visitor.
Garden cities are not ‘suburbs with trees’
Key features tended to include:
- A walkable layout: streets and paths that make the short trip easy.
- Neighbourhood centres: local shops and services, not only a distant high street.
- Parks and public spaces: planned in from the start, not left-over land.
- A green belt or town boundary: a firm line to protect open countryside.
- A mix of uses: homes, workplaces, and civic buildings in balanced reach.
- Land and finance rules: arrangements meant to return rising land value to the community
Letchworth Garden City
Letchworth (Hertfordshire) was founded in 1903, the first garden city due to good train links with London, and blended houses, schools, shops and wide-tree lined streets. People shared parks, allotments, and social clubs.
Many who moved here said their lives changed for the better. The town still attracts those looking for balance between town energy and country calm.
Welwyn Garden City
Welwyn Garden City (also in Hertfordshire) rose in 1920, 8 miles away from Letchworth. Its design took Howard’s template and polished it. Welwyn introduced more public gardens, better roads, and a focus on beauty in every detail. It became a showcase for careful planning.
Its main streets and public squares became models for later New Towns across Britain. Shops, parks, and jobs sat side by side, connected by leafy walkways.
Hampstead (a garden suburb)
Hampstead Garden Suburb (London) was founded in by social reformer Henrietta Barnett, after she and her husband bought a weekend home in this affluent area of north-west London.
Inspired by the work of Ebeneezer, they set up trusts to buy 243 acres of land from Eton College, and the area eventually grew to over 800 acres of garden city space.
Garden Cities Around the World
England’s garden cities soon made waves beyond its borders. Town planners from every corner borrowed from Howard’s model for worldwide garden cities.
Suresnes (France)
This small town near Paris sits on a hill, across from the River Seine (you can see the Eiffel Tower). The streets are lined with trees, and people can walk in local parks and flower gardens. There are also local allotments, for people to grow organic food.
Den-En-Chōfu (Japan)
This town in a Tokyo neighbourhood is a peaceful and calm place to live, with wide streets and tree-lined footpaths. The houses all have gardens, and the parks have tall trees and flowers.
The town was inspired by English garden cities, planned by local man Eiichi Shibusawa. The 20-minute trip by train to the city, means it’s ideal for commuting, but still away from the hustle and bustle of Tokyo.
Greenbelt (Maryland, USA)
This small city was built in the 1930s, and again has many trees and parks, and homes that sit on curved streets, next to open green spaces.
Residents can reach schools, parks and shops without a car, and the area is super-easy to walk around, with lakes and nearby outdoor spaces.
Radburn (New Jersey, USA)
Again, this is a garden city designed around the same time, in 1929. A safe and friendly place to live with quiet houses, footpaths and green parks, the roads are unique in that they don’t cross the whole area.
Instead, people and cars move in separate spaces, helping to keep children, walkers and pets safe from traffic. The special ‘walkways’ enable people to walk from their homes to the park or school, without ever meeting cars. All homes face parks, not streets.
Tuindorp Vreewijk (Rotterdam, Netherlands)
One of the first Dutch garden cities, this mixes rows of brick houses, with shared courtyards and green gardens. Built around 100 years ago, each house has its own little garden, and the wide streets are all lined with trees.
There are many green parks for people to walk and relax, and the community spaces, small shopping streets and nearby schools make this a friendly place to live.
Tuindorp Oostzaan (Amsterdam, Netherlands)
Situated in north Amsterdam, this again has tree-lined streets, and sits just across the water from the city centre. The small houses are close together, but have their own gardens.
This area back in the day housed factory workers, and people still live there long after their closure, as it’s such a nice place to life – safe and peaceful for adults, children and pets. And it’s easy to reach the city centre by bus, ferry or obviously bicycle (this is Amsterdam!)
