SPATIAL STRATEGIES SOLUTIONS

By Dr Anna Markovic Plestovic

I have posted this article in May 2012 on my site in serbo-croatian. Now, on the margins of the events in Istambul, where the people are defending the trees and their lives from the ever growing appetite of "development", i have translated it...

" A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they will never sit in."

Greek proverb

The imagery of progress outlined by this ancient proverb is just the opposite to the associations imposed by our contemporary "development" processes where we see growing deforestation, cutting down of lines of old beautiful trees and destroying public parks to make place for new buildings, for wider roads for the development of ever underdeveloped infrastructure. Concrete surface that frame the small oases predominantly planted with grass has become the standard arrangement of "green space". Here are just some examples of designs that won international awards and collected many praises:

Ben Gurion University campus central square, Izrael

Public square in Innsbruck, Austria

Riverbank park, Ljubno ob Savinji, Slovenja

At the same time, unlike the traditional society that has created the above proverb, modern society, that associates development with a reduction in area under the trees, and with increasing amounts of concrete and asphalt, is faced with problems that are new, related to the new, global ways of functioning of society - global warming and climate change, pollution, increasing poverty, constant conflict ... and the economic crisis, which, as it seems, is planned to last. Does the Greek proverb from another time still true today, and is there, indeed, a connection between the trees and the state of society?

An interesting study published in the journal Landscape and Urban Planning, entitled "The need for an urban forest in the cities of the U.S.," concluded that there is a direct link between the presence of trees in the area and material well-being of residents in that area. To put it simply: richer people are surrounded with more trees.

The authors investigated the relationship between income per capita of a certain urban area and coverage of the trees of the same urban area. They ren a forest coverage test of 210 U.S. cities on the basis of data on natural resources and the satellite images, and compared this data with economic statistics on the prices of land, income, consumption patterns, and many others.

The study found that for every 1% increase in revenue, tree coverage of metropolitan area increased by 1.76%. Pretty clear correlation, the researchers said. Higher revenues allow larger yards, where people can plant more trees. Cities with higher tax revenue can spend more on greening and maintenance of public greenery. This relationship indicates that the total amount of trees of urban areas – the "urban forest" – is treated the social perception not as necessity, but as luxury goods, as a way of showing wealth. Following that line of logic, the lack of trees in an area talks about the poverty of the population.

Intrigued by this study, a journalist and blogger Tim de Chant checked whether the statistical data is recognizable in visual-spatial forms. He comparied the presence of trees in rich and poor neighborhoods of the cities as seen on Google's maps and found that this difference really is visible by "naked eye". Some of the illustrations I am re-posting here, others can be found at his website.

Houston - uperr picture River Oaks, lower picture Fourth Ward

Beijing. Upper picture Chaoyang, lower picture Fengtai

Inspired by these interesting pictures I conducted a quick check to determine whether this phenomenon is characteristic of our cities. Although the spatial stratification by financial status in Serbia is less prominent than in the U.S., pictures of parts of Belgrade and Novi Sad show very convincing difference between "better" and "worse" neighborhoods, even when they are adjacent.

Belgrade, Serbia. Upper Picture Savski Venac, lower picture Dusanovac

Novi Sad, Serbia. Upper picture city center, lowe picture Adice

More money is obviously shown by more trees. However, is this relationship a one-way street, or maybe more trees can create more money, greater well-being, as the Greek proverb says? Could the creation of the "urban landscape of wealth" change the social climate in the direction of creating wealth? Does removing trees impoverish society literally in material-economic terms? Numerous studies related to the interaction between society and space show that the presence of trees beautify the environment, improves the investment climate of settlements, reduces air pollution, improves the health status of the population, reduces stress, and even reduces crime rates. But these are all indirect links that are difficult to quantify and directly connect to the movement of money.

According to the teachings of Feng Sui direct connection between the state of the environment and the state of society can be established if we look at it through the theory of the dynamic unity of opposites (Yin-Yang). Shan-Tung Hsu, founder and director of the institute of "Blue Mountain Feng Shui" does just that in a review titled "Ask Mother Earth for Answers", in which he explains the connection of modern war against trees with growing intensity of problems in the world:

"Human beings are living between heaven and earth, cherished and nourished by yin and yang energy. Energy of Heaven descends from above and becomes visible as the sun light, rain, and many other phenomena. Energy of the earth rises from below and is manifested in water, food and other products necessary for life. Yang energy of Heaven includes dynamic expansion, moving, expanding, while Yin earth energy means gathering, cooperation, maintenance. If the impact of energy of the Earth - gathering, networking and collaboration – is disabled, which appears as a counterweight to rectilinear expansion forces of Heaven, in the human world can only strife and conflict can exist. Vegetation, and within it, trees and forests are the most powerful expression of energy of the Earth. Places with most conflicts in the world are often places without noise or places where the major part of forests were destroyed in relatively short term. In recent history, a direct correlation can be observed between reduction of forest areas and the growth of strife and chaos in the world. disappearance of forests and trees is the source of the problem. "

The politics, economics and any other specialized field of social sciences constantly strive to bring the conflict and chaos under control. The emphasis is not on problem solving, but rather on "managing", assuming that the deepening of the existing and creation of further problems can be prevented without introducing major changes in the functioning of the system. According to one of the favourite quotes from Einstein "no problem can not solved at the level of thinking from which it originated". Let's try to look at these issues on a different level, through Feng Shui. From this perspective, the problems must be seen at the level of energy, at the level of Qi, its movement and polarities, and solutions can be found in the establishment of natural cycles and relationships.

Chaos, conflict, poverty (lack of "food") indicate the presence of too much straight lines, too much speed, too much focus and too much centrifugal force, or too much Yang energy. To balance the speed of expansion by cooperation, and to bend the destructive power of Jang rectilinear movement to a creative driving force, it is necessary to strengthen the quality of the collection, networking, cooperation, care and maintenance, the Yin energy. The strongest expression Jin energy of the Earth are the trees, so the most effective measures to solve or at leas ease the mentioned problems would be planting trees.

One of the major effects of rapid movement and centrifugal force of Yang energy is the weakening of community, the public domain and the devaluation of the public space, which are all expressions of the Earth, and Yin energy. This effect also occurs in distinct physical-spatial forms. Imbalance of Yin energy of unity, cooperation, and networking, or atomization of society in relatively "poorer" parts is visible in the absence of greenery in public spaces (streets, squares, parks), trees are grown individually, apart from others, in one`s own backyard. A more balanced relationship between yin and yang, that characterizes the relatively "better" parts, is manifested in a balanced relationship of "public" and "private" trees. This relationship can be seen in the above pictures of Belgrade and Novi Sad. Following the logic of feng shui, the crumbling public-common domain and the balance between individual and the society could be restored by emphasizing Yin energy in public spaces, planting trees in the streets, squares, empty spaces.

Where the trees are in abundance, water is abundant, and the water is for the earth as blood for body. The water itself is connected to money in feng shui, so we can say that the money will be in abundance, where trees are abundant. To get back to the Greek proverb from the beginning, the society will create an urban landscape of wealth by planting trees in public spaces, while the measures of "planning" area that exclude trees will create urban landscapes of alienation, division, aggression and impoverishment.

Sources:

- Tim de Chant: Urban trees reveal income inequality, http://persquaremile.com/

- Pengyu Zhu, Yaoqi Zhang: Demand for urban forests in United States cities, Landscape Urban Planning (2007)

- Shan-Tung Hsu: Ask Mother Earth for Answers,