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It appears that Cities in Northern Europe have more trees than pretty much anywhere else. (But most of the urban forest is in parks, vs. in American cities it is in yards, buffers between homes and buildings and open space due to development regulations.)
I wonder if the historical connection of America to England and Northern Europe started the tradition of homes with yards and trees in the USA?
Absolutely not.
England was, in the early modern era, almost totally treeless. Virtually all trees (aside from fruit trees, those on royal hunting preserves, and the like) had long since been cut down for timber and/or cleared out for cropland. This is part of why traditionally houses in Britain were brick or stone - wood was far too expensive to use for something like cladding - there was barely enough for the beams needed for structural support. This is also why Britain turned to coal mining early - there simply wasn't enough wood for kitchen fires.
In Ireland, Wales, and especially Scotland a bit more forest survived. But even here, and even today, there isn't much forested land.
Northern Europe, especially Scandinavia, is different. Much of the land was marginal for agriculture, hence there was no reason to permanently clear the land, although periodic clearing for timber was common. Some isolated areas remain old-growth forests, which have been essentially untouched by the development of agriculture and civilization.
The bottom line is the early British settlers were in fact unsettled by the amount of tree cover in North America, which was nothing like England. They often remarked upon the dense and foreboding nature of the forest. And they actually initially imported many of the same clearance practices as in England. New England is today 80% forested, but back in 1850, it was only 30%-40%. Large areas which now seem to be wilds were actually someone's farm - you can find the old foundations of the barns and houses if you look closely enough.
I wonder if Denver is an unusual example where the city is more treed than its surroundings, as most of the native vegetation is grassland.
Most of the population of the western US (outside of the Pacific NW) live in cities or towns where this is the case. Shrubs or grasses are the predominant native plants in this part of the country. The naturally forested areas are (by and large) sparsely populated.
I do a lot of traveling and one thing that divides American Cities with the rest of the world is the large number of large trees in urban areas. Fly into MOST American Cities and you will see a sea of large trees. Most American cities have houses with yards with grass, trees and flowers and lots of land in-between left as woods or fields.
Fly into cities in Asia, Europe and Latin America and the development is very dense with little room for trees- outside of parks. Sure there are some trees but they are planted, generally small, and cover a small area.
Why is this the case?
Not true for Caracas, Venezuela
There's trees everywhere
England was, in the early modern era, almost totally treeless. Virtually all trees (aside from fruit trees, those on royal hunting preserves, and the like) had long since been cut down for timber and/or cleared out for cropland. This is part of why traditionally houses in Britain were brick or stone - wood was far too expensive to use for something like cladding - there was barely enough for the beams needed for structural support. This is also why Britain turned to coal mining early - there simply wasn't enough wood for kitchen fires.
In Ireland, Wales, and especially Scotland a bit more forest survived. But even here, and even today, there isn't much forested land.
I think Office Politics is correct. You're confusing two things. Having trees and greenery in residential areas and open space within cities has little to do whether rural areas are forested. London has quite a bit of green space mixed in within the cities and many residential areas do have some yardspace mixed in.
Out of London, it's mostly all farmland and not much forest. Germany and Italy are the same density as the United Kingdom but they kept their forest much better, though Italy it's partially topography related. I've visited England frequently. I didn't pick up on the lack of street trees. I did pick up on the lack of forest in the rural areas. I actually found it a bit unsettling, felt like the landscape was a bit ruined.
Interesting. You can see forested land increase, maybe a bit similar though not as intense as the second-growth forest recovery in the Northeast US. Red settled areas were tiny specks in 1900, they're much larger now especially in England, the Low Countries and Germany. Looks like cities became much more sprawling, as the area increase must be much larger than the urban population growth.
I think Office Politics is correct. You're confusing two things. Having trees and greenery in residential areas and open space within cities has little to do whether rural areas are forested. London has quite a bit of green space mixed in within the cities and many residential areas do have some yardspace mixed in.
I'm impressed, Office Politics, that you qualified your statement about American cities with the word most and didn't say each and every American city does this or that.... It's a limit rarely used by many posters. I tried to rep you, but the site tells me I can't. I don't know why and it didn't say anything about spreading the reps around, so there's a mystery.
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