Author:
de Wit Saskia Irene,van der Velde John René Timothy
Abstract
Abstract
Background
The field of urban forestry encompasses many dimensions, of which
that of visual-spatial perception, addressing the spatial relationship
between city and trees, has received little attention. Analyzing the
urban forest from a visual-spatial perspective is needed to understand
relationships between different components as well as site-specific
qualities.
Methods
Tree configurations describe the relationship between form and
space, determined by the relative disposition of the trees which result
from an interaction between design and the development over time. Based
on field observations, with the city of Delft in the Netherlands as a
case study, 35 generic tree configuration types have been defined. With
this “vocabulary,” specific tree configurations and their relations are
researched, describing the urban forest from an eye-level perspective as
an essential level on which the spatiality of the urban forest can be
understood.
Results
Unraveling the urban forest components by comparing two emblematic
ensembles of tree configurations allows an understanding of their
heterogeneity as well as their coherence and dynamics.
Conclusions
The relationship of the tree vocabulary with the specific location
exposes their role as an ordering structure and a carrier of the
identity of Delft, and their differentiation and site-specific
qualities, revealing a composition of wooded areas each with their own
characteristics, shows both urban and forested areas as equivalent
components of an urban forest mosaic. This differentiation can be used
as a tool for strengthening relations between the different components
as well as diversity and heterogeneity in urban forests.
Publisher
International Society of Arboriculture
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