A history of urban forests and trees in Europe

Abstract

Trees, woods and woodlands have long been associated with European cities. The London plane, the pines of Rome and Vienna Woods (Wienerwald), for example, indicate how trees have become part of the vocabulary of cities. Cities have expanded to the periphery of woodlands such as Epping Forest in London and the Forêt de Soignes in Brussels. Woodland has been enveloped by an expanding city such as the Bois de Boulogne (see Fig. 2.1) and Bois de Vincennes in Paris and Kenwood in London to become important urban parks. Trees have given their name to streets, for example, the Unter den Linden, in Berlin. When planning and managing Europe's urban forests, one has to consider the rich historical basis of urban woodlands, parks, gardens and trees. Many books have been written about the history of urban planning and the history of designed landscapes. Previous histories of urban forestry by Konijnendijk (1997) emphasized the socio-economic and forestry aspects of the subject, while Gerhold and Frank (2002) and Forrest (2002) have emphasized the arboricultural and aesthetic aspects of the topic. A comprehensive history of what could be translated as urban green ('Stadtgrün') has been given by Hennebo (1979) and Hennebo and Schmidt (sa). This chapter provides a historical context to the other chapters in this book. It examines, where tree planting occurred in European cities, in what form it occurred and for what reasons it developed. In this review four broad topics are discussed: peri-urban and urban woodlands, tree planting in parks and open spaces, tree planting in streets and developments toward integrated urban green planning and management. The latter was important in the late 20th century development of urban forestry-an interdisciplinary approach to planning and managing forests and trees in and near urban areas. Examples are drawn from the research literature, from maps, drawings, paintings and diaries of the period concerned. Each topic is described in a more or less chronological order but as will be seen each was dominant in a particular age. Attention is given to areas accessible to the general public rather than to the development of private gardens or royal parks which were associated with cities and towns, except where royal parks and estates were or later became accessible to all people. The concept of urban forestry is discussed in detail in Chap. 1. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2005.