The Urban Forest is Broken: Rethinking Street Trees as Urban Infrastructure

Mature trees, one of the oldest yet effective and economical reduction of stormwater management techniques in existence, can contribute significantly to urban stormwater management and also provide many other benefits, such as cleaner air and water, and the heat island effect. These benefits increase greatly with increasing tree size. These benefits are especially needed in large cities, which is also where it is often most difficult to provide trees with the growing conditions they need to grow to their mature size and where stormwater generation is most intense.This paper will explain the different process by which trees provide stormwater management, as well as the magnitude of stormwater benefits possible with trees, compared to herbaceous vegetation; supported by the latest research and case studies.