Dear readers,

All good things come from trees – and are free. Trees are air and water purifiers, shade providers, air coolers, home to many life forms and more. But, sadly, in cities, we have failed to value them, understand them, and care enough for them. Except for tree lovers, activists and environmentalists, most see trees as dispensable – if they see them at all. Often, trees get a bad name when their fall causes injury and death. Negligence in pruning branches of a peepal tree in Ghatkopar, Mumbai, claimed a woman’s life on January 9 but the tree will be blamed. Trees are fundamental to our lives and well-being. Question of Cities explores this in multiple ways in this edition dedicated to trees in cities.

Trees as service providers to us, performing necessary ecological functions, and being climate warriors is fine. But there’s more to trees and plants than their use to us. Like us, they are forced to adapt to changing situations too, they perhaps feel and tell us things if we were to listen carefully. Led by insightful forester-author Peter Wohlleben’s writing, our Founder Editor Smruti Koppikar explores the lives of trees. What do they communicate to us, can we see them for the sentient beings that they are, how do they know seasons, are they intelligent beings too? Read it here.

While a single tree, especially old and heritage ones like the khirni tree in Delhi or the Baobab in Mumbai’s Bandra, is priceless, a community of trees is what makes the urban green cover vibrant and self-sustaining, observes Team QoC. The roots of trees, arborists and foresters say, grow like a social network of people does, extending towards each other, passing nutrients and information along the channels. As trees in cities come under severe strain, pause and take in the shade, and reread about some of these communities, especially native ones. Read it here.

A botanist’s daughter and early tree activist, Anitha Santhi, tells the story of starting the Tree Walk to preserve Thiruvananthapuram’s green heritage. Alongside more than 100 walks since 2012, Tree Walk has evolved into a multi-pronged action group. It sees trees as loved ones and conducts last rites of felled trees to drive home a point to authorities, does tree mapping, becomes a watchdog of trees, and builds a language for people to talk about them. Bonded by their understanding of the value of trees, academicians, medical professionals, engineers, architects, scientists, students and homemakers show what people can do for trees. Read it here.

Architect, illustrator and writer Nikeita Saraf highlights the work by activists and environmentalists in Thane and Navi Mumbai who have intensified their fight to save trees from being cut for construction or choked by cement. The planned city of Navi Mumbai with its lush green nodes has turned into a real estate hub while Thane, home to the Yeoor forest, is now a concrete jungle. As pollution levels spike, heat waves increase, wells dry up, and groundwater decreases, tree warriors hold out hope by protecting the existing tree cover and demanding that accurate data on trees be made public. Read it here.

From the Library of Trees in Milan to the master plan for Barcelona’s trees 2017-2037 at the centre of local policies, from green roofs in Copenhagen and Toronto to Soeul’s winding paths of trees, cities around the world are finding ways to protect and increase their green cover in innovative ways. China’s planned Forest City may not have taken off in the last decade but it remains an idea. India’s cities can learn a thing or two from these and more examples curated by Team QoC in this compendium. Read it here.

In our regular section, News Digest, read a selection of news about cities and climate change, and extreme weather events.

Hope you find this edition engaging and worthwhile. We would love to hear from you at [email protected]. If you haven’t yet subscribed to Question of Cities, do so here and share our work on X, Instagram, and LinkedIn.

Thank you,
Shobha
January 10, 2025