Suspended Pavement for Urban Tree Growth
Urban areas can often be completely covered by one hardscape surface or another – which when not considered properly can mean a nonexistent presence of trees in cityscapes. Given the enormous social and environmental benefits of trees, urban landscape professionals should consider methods suitable for planting trees in urban areas. Suspended pavement over noncompacted soil […]
Urban Forests vs Woodland Forests
Trees are woodland forestry plants. As soon as we forget this fact, we neglect the necessities that trees need and are likely to make mistakes when planting trees in urban forests. A tree in a woodland forest has near perfect conditions; a sheltered microclimate, rich fertile soil with an abundance of nutrients and humus, uncompacted […]
Trees in Hardscape: Structural Stability vs Rootable Soil
Soil structure is fundamental for the planting of trees, as well as the stability of roads, buildings, and other infrastructure. It refers to two things: the arrangement of soil particles including silt, sand, and clay that aggregate together the void pore spaces between these aggregate particles In this article, we discuss why appropriate soil structure is critical […]
Amazon’s Trees Removed Nearly a Third Less Carbon in Last Decade
The amount of carbon the Amazon region’s remaining trees removed from the atmosphere in the last decade fell by almost a third, according to leading scientists. They continue by warning that man-made carbon emissions will need to be even more severely reduced in order to tackle climate change. Trees in untouched areas of the forest have been dying off at an increasing rate, […]
Signature Tree Drowns from Poor Drainage
A protected oak tree in the middle of a large shopping centre “drowned” from poor drainage, a builder of the site claims. Midsummer Place in Milton Keynes, UK opened around the great oak in 2000, but before long the tree began showing signs of stress from improper planting. According to sources, the construction crew wrongly dug out drainage […]
An Urban Treehouse That Protects Residents from Air and Noise Pollution
A potted forest of trees and branching steel beams disguise this 5-story apartment building in Turin, Italy. Designed by Luciano Pia, 25 Verde brings plants up off the ground in an attempt to evade Turin’s homogeneous urban scene and integrate life into the facade of the residential building. The undulating structure creates a transition from outdoors to in, […]
Soil Compaction & What It Means for Urban Trees
There are many aspects that need to be taken account of when planting trees in urban areas – one essential factor being soil compaction. It is important to determine site environment and soil conditions in order to mitigate the constraints of compacted soil and create healthy tree planting conditions. In previous blog posts, we have detailed the soil requirements of […]
New Zealand Memorial Park Explains Their Use of ArborSystem
View the below videos to learn how a memorial park in New Zealand used ArborSystem to ensure the new trees thrive at their ANZAC war memorial, and remain healthy for many years to come. Tree Planting Strategy & Use of ArborSystem
Making a Big Difference to Global Warming
Urbanized areas may only occupy around 2% of the world’s habitable land, but they are the biggest drivers of global climate change. Referred to as “urban heat islands”, cities are usually hotter than rural areas for numerous reasons. Traffic pollution creates a greenhouse effect that traps heat at night. While the cutting down of local trees means the lose of […]
Soil Requirements of Healthy Urban Trees
Trees require an adequate supply of uncompacted, well-aerated, and moist soil in order to thrive. These conditions enable tree roots to obtain all the essential elements they require for healthy growth – nutrients, oxygen, and water. These soil circumstances however are often unavailable in built urban areas. In this article, we provide a soil quality […]
StrataCell Installation
The Canary Wharf Crossrail Station in London, England is set to be the size of One Canada Square (a 50 story skyscraper in London) laid on its side. GreenBlue is proud to announce the completion of this exciting development by our UK team. View a fast-forward video of the construction here. StrataCells® are soil support modules that […]
11 Tree Experts & Organizations You Should Know About
Local tree experts and organizations can be a valuable resource not only to landscape architects and contractors working on landscape infrastructure projects, but also to local residents. Tree professionals are likely to know about your local tree ordinances and other ways to protect and increase urban tree populations. Below is a list of the types of […]
Specifying Tree Guards & Tree Grates: What You Need to Know
Tree guards and grates have an important role to play in maintaining healthy tree pit conditions. They can also be as aesthetically pleasing as they are functional, and offer a high quality visual design statement to any public realm or streetscape theme. For over 20 years, GreenBlue has been developing innovative products to assist trees below ground […]
Pitfalls & Challenges in Urban Tree Planting
We all know the importance of trees in our cities, however urban trees are often neglected and do not receive the appropriate care they require in urban settings. Each of these photos tell a story of neglect, disregard, or simple lack of knowledge. Learning from both our own and others’ mistakes is imperative if we are to pursue […]
Identifying Urban Tree Planting Opportunities
Clearly, we cannot just simply drop trees in anywhere. To have a chance of success, tree species and location are the first priority in our goal of establishing trees in cities. Planting potentially large trees in wrong locations is counterproductive and will simply turn people against trees. However, equally often we see tree planting sites which could […]
A City’s “Twelve Days of Christmas”
Because it’s that time of year, we felt that it was an opportunity to relay the gifts that our cities greatly deserve. So we created a poem of the endowment we hope cities around the world will be in receipt of during the coming year.
Tree Ordinances: What You May Not Know
Tree ordinances are official policies developed by communities to protect trees, preserve green spaces and manage urban forests. They set standards for selection, planting, maintaining, and preserving urban trees. Ordinances seek to establish a legal means of protecting the public interest and establishing a healthy, well-managed urban environment. Tree ordinances are about understanding the benefits that […]
Why GreenBlue? The Meaning of our New Name
Previously operating in North America as Citygreen Urban, our company name was changed to GreenBlue Urban at the beginning of 2015. The reason for this new identity is to better express our passion for green infrastructure, stormwater management, and complimenting street furnishings. Our new name and logo were created with the subliminal message of trees and […]
Quick Guide to Suitable Urban Tree Species
Here we have an assortment of tree species suitable for planting in urban areas. Factors such as ornamental value, hardiness and maintenance were taken into consideration in the selection of these trees. The tree species outlined below represent the best selection based on a look at urban specie suitability by GreenBlue Infrastructure Solutions. This article […]
The Little Things Tree Grates Do To Make a Big Difference
Trees evolved from natural forest settings. Where trees in woodland areas have near perfect conditions, a tree in an urban setting must endure harsh circumstances including paved surrounds, increasing microclimate temperatures and reflecting glare, exposure to wind and de-icing salt, gratuitous vandalism, and much more. Tree grates are used to help integrate trees in the urban environment […]
The History of Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs)
An Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is the process by which the anticipated effects on the environment of a proposed development or project are measured. EIAs can be undertaken for individual projects or for public plans, in order to ensure that plans likely to have significant effects on the environment are made subject to assessment prior to […]
Sustainable Infrastructure Requires Interdisciplinary Collaboration
The responsibility of creating and maintaining our urban landscapes and infrastructure cannot be laid on any one particular profession. The realities of the modern planning and construction process mean that both the public and private sectors have crucial roles to play if our urban landscapes and infrastructure are to be sustainable. GreenBlue works with all […]
How Valuable Are Urban Trees?
A recent project has revealed the true value of urban trees in the UK county of Wrexham. This first study of its kind in Wales showed that the services and benefits provided by trees to the community is worth more than £1.2 million every year. With urban space at a premium and competition for municipal resources intense, it’s […]
Street Trees & Sustainable Drainage – Call for Project
As a world-leading example of municipal authorities helping to encourage green infrastructure in their cities, boroughs within the City of London were invited to submit innovative local project proposals that deliver street trees combined with sustainable urban drainage systems (or SuDS). This project was part of the wider “Mayor’s Street Tree Initiative”. Background During his first term […]
Pilot Project to Clarify Research Conducted Into Urban Tree Benefits
Trees and Design Action Group (TDAG) have launched a project to pull together research the benefits of urban trees and identify knowledge gaps. The initiative will collect and review existing research on the benefits of urban trees, in order to identifying what is and is not known. The commission is comprised of the general public, researchers, practitioners, and […]
