Break the bad news bubble (Part 2) | Angus Hervey
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It's time for our periodic update of good news from Angus Hervey, founder
of Fix the News, an independent publication that reports stories of global
progre...
Tree planting plan for our neighbourhoodclick image to see larger
Lets make a linear parkIn the centre of our neighbourhood is quiet Charlotte Street. At least it's supposed to be quiet. Council is looking at installing some traffic-calming devices to try and discourage commuters from taking shortcuts onto Alexander Parade. But most of the time, it's only used by people who live on it or adjacent to it.
Alexander has a theory that neighbourhoods need "quiet backs", that is, nice quiet leafy places to walk which link up neighbourhood greens but are a little away from the hustle and bustle. Charlotte street is already a "quiet back" and I reckon we could turn part of it into a green, or at least a woonerf-style play and relaxation area.
We could use the majority of the street area for denser tree planting, and provide sitting areas and play areas. We could allow enough space for strictly local traffic to weave through at a maximum speed of 7km/h.
In this kind of arrangement people could still drive outside their houses to drop off and pick up groceries etc, and park their car clustered parking at either end of the street. The inconvenience of not being able to park outside your house would be offset by having a leafy well treed 'green' outside your front door.
The plan above shows additional planting in Charlotte Street and a storm water treatment swale, which I'll deal with in more detail in another post - this is a preliminary design, once I've 'crashed' it together, or considered it alongside other aspects of the design, we should get a more realistic picture.
Lets Plant TreesWe can supplement the existing street planting with more trees, both in the Charlotte St 'green' and the surrounding areas.
Regardless of what type or species of trees we plant (see earlier post), it makes a lot of sense to for us to maximise the amount of vegetation in our neighbourhood.
There a number of good reasons to do this; one is visual amenity: Street trees look nice, people feel more relaxed and happy around trees, they're good for property prices, people like them (not all people I guess, but a lot).
Trees provide shade in summer. A lot of the heat we experience inside our houses is generated by the hard surfaces outside which absorb the heat and then radiate it all day and night. This is a great thing in winter, not so good in summer.
Plants provide habitat, and help strengthen the urban ecology. They reduce the amount of ozone gases, and the amount of water in the storm water system.
Importantly for us, surrounded as we are by major roads, trees and other plants significantly improve air quality. Plants reduce the harm from carbon monoxide (CO), volatile organic compounds (VOC), nitrogen oxides (NOx), and particulate matter (PM) in car exhaust. The more trees between us and the cars and trucks on the street, the less exposure we’ll have to harmful gases and particulates, which increase incidence of asthma and other nasty heath issues.
So lets plant more trees.
The rainbow lorikeet in the image is munching on a Eucalyptus leucoxylon, a species indigenous to our neighbourhood. Photo taken by ianmichaelthomas here in Melbourne.
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