Trees in the city

Plant life and urban planning

Trees in the city have taken on an even more essential role than ever but their future is very much in doubt and it is questionable whether generations to come will be able to enjoy the heritage we have inherited from ages past. Planting trees in cities has never been so important, argues the author, but great attention has to be paid to how we do it. Plant life is not simply decorative; plants are living entities. Trees have their own needs that must be respected and they should be planted in conditions that will ensure a flourishing future.

Using three hundred photographs, old manuscripts, plans and maps, Des arbres dans la ville invites the reader on a tour of over 100 French towns. Amid the botanical explanations and landscape analysis mingle the language of wonderment and emotion to recount the history of urban plant life. The author provides readers with important concepts to understand and to develop practices that respect plant life within an urban environment. This work was first published in hardback in 2010 and, despite being much sought after, has long been out of print. Now that trees have become indispensable actors with the urban landscape, we deemed it essential to republish the work in soft back for the attention of curious readers and tree-lovers; the work however also has much to teach urban planners and city managers.