Seeing Trees: A History of Street Trees in New York City and Berlin, Dumpelmann Sonja

A deep . . . dive into urban societys need for--and relationship with--trees that sought to return the natural world to the concrete jungle.--Adrian Higgins, Washington Post

Winner of the Foundation for Landscape Studies 2019 John Brinckerhoff Jackson Prize

Today, cities around the globe are planting street trees to mitigate the effects of climate change. However, as landscape historian Sonja Dьmpelmann explains, the planting of street trees in cities to serve specific functions is not a new phenomenon. In her eye-opening work, Dьmpelmann shows how New York City and Berlin began systematically planting trees to improve the urban climate during the nineteenth century, presenting the history of the practice within its larger social, cultural, and political contexts.