City improvement: Planting trees

In the case of Chicago, the mayor has taken the lead in crusading for trees. Disappointed by the city's defoliated landscape and urban heat islands (summer hot zones), Richard M. Daley vowed to plant half a million trees upon taking office in 1989.

His recollection of growing up when the city had a magnificent canopy of elm trees led to dusting off Chicago's long-ignored motto, urbs in horto ("City in a Garden"), which dates to 1837.

The city is so committed to this identity that nearly 400,000 trees have been planted and 53 miles of tree-studded median strips built. Along the lakefront, trees are strategically planted to benefit wildlife migration and create an "O'Hare for birds."

"Tourists are frankly shocked because they don't picture the city of broad shoulders being a garden," says Barry Burton, an assistant to the mayor.

Few would argue about the aesthetic appeal of trees. To get broad-based support from local governments and civic organizations, however, means going beyond that.

Bill Sullivan and Frances Kuo, University of Illinois researchers, have studied the impact of trees on Chicago's public-housing residents, and believe the social benefits to city dwellers are every bit, if not more, compelling than the environmental ones.

To gauge this, they studied a Chicago public-housing complex of 28 architecturally identical high-rise apartment buildings. They wanted to see how the site's limited trees impacted the lives of residents.

Compared to people in places without trees, people in buildings with trees enjoyed better relations with neighbors and reduced violence. The message, Mr. Sullivan says, is simple: Nature should be at every doorstep, or very nearby.

The city is attempting to heed this advice by designing ample green space into new public-housing projects.

Like any community, though, Chicago is challenged by trees-versus-development issues.

To rebuild a stretch of Lake Shore Drive, 400 mature trees had be removed. A city policy, however, requires replacing them inch-for-inch, based on trunk size. As a result, 1,000 new trees are being planted.

Atlanta, a city under intense development pressure, is especially mindful of its trees. Orange warning signs are posted where trees are to be removed. People have 15 days to appeal the plan to the city tree commission.

Marcia Bansley, executive director of Trees Atlanta, a nonprofit citizens' group, knows how tricky it can be to balance saving trees with development.

Her organization has done a lot of tree rescuing and planting, and people often look to the group for assistance. But it's not possible to save every tree. "It's a fine line between saving trees and working toward the overall good of the community," she says.

In Atlanta's case there is a particular sense of urgency because the city has grown so rapidly in recent decades. Suburban sprawl has eaten up surrounding woodlands and made Atlanta's commutes the longest in the country.

To encourage more urban dwelling, especially among former suburbanites, cities need to be as green as possible. Trees Atlanta has helped tremendously in that regard by planting more than 14,000 shade trees downtown since 1985. Trees have been planted alongside business-district sidewalks, in parking lots, around downtown churches and subway stations, and in pocket parks.

For businesses, trees can have drawbacks. They make messes, buckle sidewalks, interfere with utility lines, and obscure storefronts. But there's an upside, too, says Kathleen Wolf of the University of Washington's Center for Urban Horticulture.

Her research shows that people are willing to spend more on products in business districts with trees than without them. Trees send a message of care, quality, and welcome, and can give a district a distinct character that customers like.

Communities still have much to do in reaching low- income neighborhoods with the message about planting and caring for trees and in enlisting residents as "citizen foresters," but Jim Lyons, executive director of GCA Casey Trees, an endowment fund of the Garden Club of America, is convinced the rewards are worth it.

"Trees represent the fabric that helps pull communities together and gives them something to care about and commit to in terms of their own love of neighborhoods," he says.

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