Urban Forests Prior to World War II

The earliest planting of trees in urban areas took place in Egypt and the Middle East as early as the twenty-sixth century BC. Early tree planting enhanced private gardens and marked processional routes leading to temples and tombs. The Renaissance ushered in innovations in urban design along with new ideas for the incorporation of trees into cities. These innovations resulted in the creation of tree-lined boulevards, large urban parks, and wooded suburbs that were developed in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Examples of these are the tree-lined boulevards designed by Haussmann in Paris, Central Park designed by Olmsted and Vaux in New York City, and various English suburbs influenced by Ebenezer Howard’s Garden City Concept. At the beginning of World War II cities in Europe and Asia contained to various degrees city parks, public and private gardens, cemeteries supporting trees, and tree-lined boulevards and waterways. Their suburbs were characterized by tree-lined streets and small wooded parks. Commonly used species in temperate zone cities included London plane, common lime, rowan, English elm, field maple common lime, Norway maple, Silver birch, Carolina poplar, horse chestnut, ginkgo, zelkova, camphor tree, and black locust.