Street tree removal in New York City

Image via waltarrrr at Flikr

A series about the rules and regulations of street tree planting, pruning, and removal in New York City.

From the NYC Department of Parks and Recreation:

Dead trees reported on streets, parks, playgrounds or other public spaces will be inspected and, if appropriate, removed. Parks' service pledge to citizens with dead trees in front of their houses is to inspect and remove such trees within 30 days of notification. To report a dead tree, call 311 or use our forestry service request system.

Submit a Forestry Service Request
Use our new forestry service request system to submit a service request, and we’ll route your submission to the appropriate Parks Department division and provide you with a tracking number and details about how your request will be addressed.

After a tree is removed, Parks will automatically add the site to the free tree planting program.

Stumps are also removed by the Department of Parks, depending on funding, and the location will be added to a registry for future tree planting.  For more information, visit the Forestry Services and Permits website.

Street tree pruning rules in New York City

(This photograph was taken in Berkeley, California)

A series about the rules and regulations of street tree planting, pruning, and removal in New York City.

From the NYC Department of Parks and Recreation:

Since 1996, Parks has pruned established street trees on a neighborhood–by–neighborhood basis. This process allows us to prune a portion of the street trees in every community board every year. However, if a street tree is damaged, has a hanging limb, is hitting a utility line, or blocking a traffic sign or signal, call 311 or enter a Service Request using forestry service request system. Parks will review the request and take appropriate action if warranted.

We do not take routine pruning requests.

Certified Citizens Pruners are trained to do light tree pruning which would pertain to any small branches that can be reached from the ground. To find out how you can become a Citizen Pruner, contact Trees New York. Please report unauthorized tree pruning through 311 or our forestry service request system.

Do you have permission to work near a tree or perform work on a tree?  The Department of Parks holds that

It is illegal and punishable by law for citizens to damage, destroy, perform unauthorized tree work or otherwise harm a street tree or park tree.

No work may be performed on or within 50 feet of a street tree without a Tree Work Permit from Parks. Unpermitted work can lead to serious tree damage. Anyone caught removing or otherwise harming a tree should be reported immediately. Violations are misdemeanors punishable by a fine not to exceed $15,000 and/or imprisonment for up to one year. To report illegal tree damage, call 311 or use our forestry service request system.

Use our new forestry service request system to notify Parks of illegal tree damage, and we’ll route your submission to the appropriate Parks Department division and provide you with a tracking number and details about how your request will be addressed.

For more information, visit the Forestry Services and Permits website.

Union Square Park in the NYPL Archives

Union Square Park, looking north from Fourth Avenue, West 14th Street, Wurts Brothers (call no.:AZ 06-6805)

Union Square has been in the news lately for art vendor protests, a proposed pedestrian plaza, and the overheated play structure, Metal Mountain, in its playground.

Street tree planting rules in New York City

A series about the rules and regulations of street tree planting, pruning, and removal in New York City.

From the NYC Department of Parks and Recreation:

There are two ways to have a street tree planted in front of your property. You can request a free tree or you can plant one on your own. If you are required to plant because of zoning regulations and your job was pre-filed before May 3, 2010, please read the Street Tree Planting Requirements for New Buildings. For zoning-related jobs pre-filed on or after May 3, 2010 please see Parks Plan Review

Request a Tree: Any property owner can request a free street tree by submitting a Service Request through our new forestry service request system or by calling 311. Note: New trees planted through Parks’ free request system cannot fulfill planting requirements for new buildings or alterations.

The Process: Each requested planting location must be surveyed by a forester to determine the site’s suitability and potential infrastructural conflicts. Trees are planted on a first–come, first serve basis. As the availability of trees, number of requests, and duration of planting seasons are variable, not all requests can be satisfied immediately and some may take longer than a year. In order to be considered for a spring planting, a request must be received no later than December 31st, and by July 1st for a fall planting. Trees are only planted during two planting seasons: March 15 – May 15 (Spring) and October 15 – December 15 (Fall). To learn more about the planting process, view our 10 Steps to Planting for a Greener NYC.

Plant a Tree On Your Own: You can also plant a tree on your own by obtaining a Tree Planting Permit and hiring a landscape contractor. To apply for a free permit to plant a tree in front of your property, call 311 or download the P-A Forestry Application below. All plantings on City streets must be in accordance with Parks’ current Tree Planting Standards [PDF, 605 kB]. You may find the Planting Specifications Checklist [PDF, 531 kB] helpful in keeping to these regulations. If you are interested in one–stop planting and permitting, for a moderate donation, the New York Tree Trust will work with you throughout the process from site surveying to species selection to planting. For more information about the Tree Trust, please call (212)360–TREE.

For more information, visit the Forestry Services and Permits website.

Going green in Berlin

Did you know that the German word for park is park?  Thanks to Allen B. for sharing the following photographs of five parks he visited while in Berlin.

children's pocket park

courtyard park

Mendelssohn-Bartholdy-Park

Unter den Linden

More about lindens:

• Tree Walk: Unter den Linden 
• Branding with the linden tree

Wasser-funktion, Planten un Bloemen, Hamburg

Of the scene above, in Hamburg's Park Planten un Bloemen, plantsman Allen B. wrote, "This was a fun, little water feature for young and grown-up kids." Planten un bloemen is Dutch for plants and flowers.  The park's website is written in German.

Shanghai Sightseeing (Shanghai, Day 6)

This is the 6th and final post in the Shanghai Journal by guest blogger Renee Toll-DuBois of Earth Our Only Home who recently traveled to Shanghai to attend the World Green Roof Conference and the 2010 World Expo.  All text and photographs courtesy of Renee Toll-DuBois.  Previous posts can be read here (day 5), here (day 4), here (day 3), here (day 2), and here (day 1).

I leave today but will fit in some more sightseeing.

My first stop is to an old temple recommended to me by a restaurant owner back in Cambridge. Friends took me out before I left and we spoke with Eddie, letting him know I was going to Shanghai and asking if he knew it. As it turned out, he grew up there but had then gone to Hong Kong. When I asked him what he might recommend I see it was the Chenghuang temple, a Taoist temple, also called yi temple.

One of the volunteers for the conference, Cloudy, who has a boyfriend from the US now living and working in Japan, who speaks both Japanese and English besides her Chinese, has offered to accompany me which I welcome. We take a taxi, and I am surprised to watch her use her T pass to pay for the cab. Apparently it is all part of the transportation system and one never tips! Another innovation I would love to see come to cities in the US!

As it turns out, the Chenghuang Temple is embedded deep within a marketplace that creates an ambiance of times past with its large wooden structures, and seemingly hand-carved curved roofs that suggest boats to me. This is the heart of tourist land but we are still early and get in line for a ticket to the temple as it is still about 5 minutes before it opens. It opens promptly on time and in we go, buy our incense that is the size of fireworks, light them at communal fires burning in metal dishes, then bow to the four directions - at least that is what it seems like to me - and stick them into the sand in the container with everyone else's to burn for much longer. The smell of the incense fills this outer inner courtyard. Then we enter the temple and there are monks beginning to chant. She says it is the birthday of one of the people/statues and so the monks will be chanting all day. She also tells me with enthusiasm that a monk's life is a good life. We continue through the temple, visiting the different rooms where one can make a financial offering and pray. She says the place is very busy, especially when children will be graduating parents come and make many blessings for their child's success. Her own mother comes here which is why she knew where to go.

All the buildings surround a main square with lots of shops, even a Starbucks! and many artisans continuing ancient crafts. There is also a large pond filled with hundreds of white-and-orange Japanese carps, where crowds gather to feed the fish, take pictures, or to enjoy what many call the best Chinese steamed dumplings. The Nanxiang Steamed Bun Restaurant apparently is a nationwide brand name, found on the third floor of one of the many Chinese structures that has survived time and weather. We passed the shop where a woman was making the dumplings to be steamed but as time was short and the famous dumpling that some say originated here in Shanmghai has meat broth along with the meat filling, we continued on visit to the YuYuan gardens, described below.

According to travel information found on the internet, Yuyuan Garden is believed to have been built in the Ming Dynasty, as was the Temple, more than 400 years ago. Yuyuan literally translated means Happy Garden. It is located in the center of Shanghai's Old City, a few blocks south of the Bund.

It has a total area of about two hectares (five acres) and more than 40 attraction. We heard tours being given in French, Italian, German, Spanish, English. The inner and outer gardens were both built in the Ming Dynasty classical style, with numerous rock and tree garden areas, ponds, dragon-lined walls and numerous doorways and zigzagging bridges separating the various garden areas and pavilions. I had limited time so was able to visit only some of these delightful attractions and found them all restful and inspiring, a final touch of green before my 14 hour flight back to the States.

Tour of Green Roofs (Shanghai, Day 5)

This is the 5th post in the Shanghai Journal by guest blogger Renee Toll-DuBois of Earth Our Only Home who recently traveled to Shanghai to attend the World Green Roof Conference and the 2010 World Expo.  All text and photographs courtesy of Renee Toll-DuBois.  Previous posts can be read here (day 4), here (day 3), here (day 2), and here (day 1).

This is the last day of the conference. I leave tomorrow and we are visiting a number of green roof projects in the city, both intensive and extensive, using trays combined with pots as well as direct planting. We load into our four busloads (approximately 168 people!) to head out to see the sights. When we drove to the University the other day, I spotted several green roofs from the highway and wonder whether we will be visiting those. It had seemed all in one district so I also wonder if we will be visiting various districts in the city.

First is a cluster of a few dozen sedum roofs in the Yangpu District. There is strong political support for these roofs, which are largely retrofitted onto existing concrete decks. The green roof is created most simply by placing onto the waterproofing layer of the roof pre-grown plastic trays filled with a planting medium that seems to be peat mixed with compost or other materials that has been planted with sedum (which comes in many varieties and was in flower as you can see). The Chinese appreciate the aesthetics of a green roof and value its insulating and hence cooling effect (the summers get very hot here). The challenges local designers are facing however is retrofitting these green roofs onto existing building stock not designed to take extra load so they default to the extensive, thin planting medium layer sedum-style green roof.

Traveling in the company of these experienced international green roof experts, they were looking with an eye for details. I learned that these trays are designed with drainage channels that can be opened or closed and pieced together to direct the drained water where you want, if you lay the trays out with this in mind. I saw the utility of the trays for being easy to install, replace, and redesign if work needs to be done on the roof itself or other issues come up. Trays do seem to be the most popular style and research is being done on how light and thin the planting medium can be and still provide a viable green roof.

Additionally, green roofs are valued for their ability to capture dust and other air-borne particulates and clean the air of pollutants, improving the air quality that is daily declining. Poor air quality, smog, was in evidence to us as we looked out our hotel window and rarely saw a blue sky on the clear good weather days. In promotional materials included with the conference program, other benefits were mentioned including decreasing the "urban drainage load" which I assume to mean stormwater management, absorbing noise, extending the life of the roof/building, saving energy and keeping the building warm in winter and cool in summer, minimizing the heat island effect and saving the cost of investment in land. As I have mentioned however, the air quality and aesthetics seemed most emphasized on our tour and in the program.

Our international delegates seemed to be more in favor of the direct plant method whether for extensive or intensive green roofs. Extensive are the thin planting medium, intensive the deeper planting medium and usually requires irrigation. Irrigation for the thinner extensive depends it seems to me on the climate. In the northeast and upper Midwest, sedum is used as it can go 90 days I am told without water and still survive and in most cases water comes naturally within 90 days. However, when you move into warmer climates more of the year, irrigation becomes a different matter.

From the two different roof tops we could see the same green roofs I saw from the bus the other day and yes they are all in one district. They are all the tray style it seemed except for one or two that appeared to be intensive and provide more variety in plant species and visual height.

Our next stop was the roof garden on the Friendship Shopping Centre which was an intensive style garden, larger than the others we had seen or perhaps merely giving that illusion through its more lush plantings. I saw fruit trees, Japanese maples, palm trees, grasses, bamboo, and ground cover, including the ever popular sedum but other plants as well, demonstrating much more biodiversity than the tray gardens had. These rooftop gardens do provide a pleasant spot to take a break as an employee by simply riding the elevator up to the top floor.

Our next stop was the Dazhing Merrylin Hotel which has a beautiful garden that seemed every bit like one on the ground - expansive, with trees, shrubs, flowers, turf, and many plants that were familiar - rhododendrons, irises are two examples. It sat on the second floor above the reception area of this old-fashioned stone building, providing plenty of weight bearing structure needed for this well-appreciated amenity.

Next stop on the tour was into a different neighborhood to see one of the living walls constructed by the Hainer Eco-Building Company of Shanghai. This wall was planted with the ubiquitous sedum placed into fabric pockets placed in parallel rows down the height of the wall, with irrigation and fertilizer systems feeding into the bags from the back directly. This system provides an option in many locations I am sure where more conventional green roofs or walls would not be feasible but it did seem to be more costly than other techniques we had seen.

A question that continued to come up from among our group was the longevity of the different systems. We were told that since October, less than six months ago, several of the plants in the fabric pouches had already had to be replaced. While this may be an easy process, it seemed that it revealed a system that would require frequent maintenance and the associated costs. We were also told that one of the tray style green roofs had been in existence for 10 years but it was not clear whether it was the same plants and trays there for 10 continuous years or the same overall design but replaced trays and plants. This was part of the mix for our green roof folks as they calculate costs over time and maintenance. In China green roofs may be at a newer stage than elsewhere: innovation is most important now in order to get as much exposure and later a different innovation that focuses on refining and improving different designs will come.

This last day of the conference was a food day as we were treated to a meal in a restaurant at midday and there was a banquet at night with our kind hosts to listen to selections from the Beijing Opera, hear live traditional music, and eat our fill. Toasts were free-flowing as was the beer and soda, the food kept being brought out and fit on the enormous lazy-susan in the middle of the table. It was a fun closing to a packed week. I am told it is important for a host to provide more food that guests can possibly eat and this was definitely accomplished. It also led to interesting conversations about what happens to the extra. I learned there is a charity in Hong kong that comes and picks up this extra and redistributes it to the hungry. We were also told that at the restaurants it often goes to feed the employees.

Tomorrow I leave and will fit in some more sightseeing before I head back to the airport.

Shanghai Journal, Days 1 - 4

Thanks to guest blogger Renee Toll-DuBois of Earth Our Only Home, local ecologist is pleased to offer several essays about Shanghai, the Shanghai World Green Roof Conference, and the 2010 Shanghai World Expo.

Courtesy of Renee Toll-DuBois

Posts can be read here (World Expo, again, Day 4)  here (World Green Roof Conference, Day 3), here (2010 Shanghai World Expo, Day 2), and here (Shanghai Journal, Day 1).  Stay tuned for Day 5 (Tour of Green Roofs) and Day 6 (Shanghai Sightseeing).   Please comment! 

World Expo, again (Shanghai, Day 4)

This is the 4th post in the Shanghai Journal by guest blogger Renee Toll-DuBois of Earth Our Only Home who recently traveled to Shanghai to attend the World Green Roof Conference and the 2010 World Expo.  All text and photographs courtesy of Renee Toll-DuBois.  Previous posts can be read here (day 3), here (day 2), and here (day 1).


Back to the Shanghai World Expo today in our two busloads of conference attendees, this time to the other side of the river, to see the pavilions in the neighborhood, pavilions that represent regions and cities.

Apparently, according to the speaker about the Expo, this neighborhood had been a slum of migrants come in from the rural areas in search of a better life and more economic opportunity. People lived in makeshift shacks and the standard of living was atrocious. He indicated that as preparation for the Expo, the neighborhood residents were relocated and provided housing in another district and given either some money or perhaps jobs, I do not recall and my notes are not clear but a means by which to get established. If this is true, it seems a positive thing but there is always more to such a story!

Additionally, residents of the surrounding neighborhood have all been given free passes to the Expo good for the entire six months so they can come and go to the park for free and of course so they can come and go to their homes which sometimes lie within the gates and grounds of the Expo!

This portion of the Expo houses futuristic homes as well as the zero-carbon building, our first stop. The ZED factor zero carbon pavilion showcases the work of BedZED. The key concept here is a building and or community that produces and stores more energy than it uses. The building is designed to capture wind through turbines, solar, use biomass for fuel from human and food - and potentially animal waste as well as algae grown in fish pools and tubing on site, purify its own water using a biological filtration system I saw described as operating by a US group, RUST in Austin Texas. Really amazing and something I want to experience even more.

This example at the Expo is similar in look, with perhaps more stainless steel than the actual buildings in operation in Beddington, according to Gary Gran, a delegate from the UK. He comments in his blog at livingroofs.org that the green roof element constructed from modular steel trays in this Shanghai example is a sedum mat in Beddington. For those well-informed on green roofs this undermined the exhibit's effectiveness as did the rainwater flowing underneath the planted trays with tell-take irrigation lines rather than the sustainable drainage in the "real" one. This makes the pavilion more a show than a demonstration which is disappointing but we did not have insider information about why the difference and what constraints the builders faced. Within the building there were plastic plants for instance inside rather than real and other frustrations for us but the concepts are real as they are being implemented in England at this time.

A second exciting pavilion was Alsace as it also demonstrated and had pictures of ecologically sustainable dwellings. The pavilion itself was eye-catching with half its outer wall a cascading sheet of water behind a wall of plate glass and solar arrays and the other a multi-colored green wall of plants and flowers, again planted in trays and racks but nonetheless eye-catching. Within, the system was explained as having a hinged outer wall allowing the solar PV to adjust and track the sun and then between the two walls a wall of air that would heat and in summer be vented out and in winter redirected into the dwelling to help with heating. The interior wall then is the sheeting water whose purpose was less well explained in the French and Mandarin signage but seemed to help with maintaining a stable temperature. The design is in operation in several high schools apparently and the pump is hydraulic requiring no input of energy. Additionally we saw photos of many other neighborhoods and projects in the region, from Mulhouse and Strassbourg.

close-up of Alsace living wall

Overall, I must say that I grew quite disappointed in how far behind the US appears to be in embracing green design that is sustainable, local, and uses sources of energy capture for self-sufficiency rather than as a full scale system that needs a market and infrastructure. More of us can be doing it for ourselves, as individuals and as communities and decreasing the need for materials related to creating systems and infrastructure. The USA Pavilion did almost nothing at showcasing the examples we do have in our country, very disappointing.

We next refreshed ourselves with some delicious green tea at the Wetland Park to Purify Water in Chendu, sitting in a very pleasant garden reminiscent of what I think of as a Japanese garden with bridges and rises and shaped trees and walkways. The other pavilion we visited included an exhibit from Montreal that focused on a giant landfill that has been capped and transformed effectively into a major urban park - and home to Cirque du Soleil. They had a pictorial history, interactive exhibits and a scale model that informed people of the different layers and materials used, the on-going environmental monitoring and the current recycling center that operates along with the bicycle rental and general park activities of this well-loved new environmental resource.

After a visit to a Chinese provincial pavilion where we enjoyed a performance of dance and music, saw traditional crafts and a promotional video that was explicit about the rich cultural diversity their city enjoyed and inviting you to come become part of this wonderful green city, we had our picture taken, at their invitation, with the dancers before regrouping with others from our conference at the Pavilion of the Footprint, an enormous theme pavilion. It is a vast museum-like building that traces and brings to life past history. They have recreated ancient Chinese murals found in caves, the Gate of Ishtar. They have a simulation of the rise and fall of a Sumerian city in the desert. The cities of Michaelangelo and ancient China are recreateed complete with sculptures and interactive videos. A pavilion to the cities of the past that reaches into the present.

We also visited the Pavilion of Future Life where robots were the theme - one to care for your children four and younger and teach them to sing, dance and get along with others; a robot to help you with banking and other household duties; a robot to assist elderly and disabled people into and out of bed, the toilet, getting around. This last was the one I thought most useful, although as a friend pointed out, it is great until the robot malfunctions and then you are trapped in a nightmare. They had an incredibly pwoerful message on water conservation that states priorities I think we would do well to consider and embrace.

The day flew by and it was time to return back to the hotel and some rest before our tours of green roofs the next day.

World Green Roof Conference (Shanghai, Day 3)

This is the 3rd post in the Shanghai Journal by guest blogger Renee Toll-DuBois of Earth Our Only Home who recently traveled to Shanghai to attend the World Green Roof Conference and the 2010 World Expo.  All text and photographs courtesy of Renee Toll-DuBois.  Previous posts can be read here (day 2) and here (day 1).



The World Green Roof Conference itself was a one day event at the Tongji University bringing together researchers, academics, installers, designers, urban planners, consultants, developers, and representatives from government agencies. The group of international delegates, many of whom are THE green roof advocates and leading experts in their countries pushing for national standards, policy incentives and wider engagement. We represented at least 10 countries (PRC - mainland, Taiwan, Hong Kong-, Singapore, Mexico, Japan, UK, Germany, US, Italy, Korea, Australia, Colombia), spoke many languages on our buses and all proceedings were in either English or Chinese (Mandarin). Simultaneous translation through headphones was provided as needed. Our numbers swelled to nearly 500 for this day at the University (compared to the two busloads of nearly 100 people the day before) as we were joined by many students, faculty, and government officials.

The morning involved the necessary formalities with a number of distinguished academics and politicians welcoming the delegates and underlining their support for roof greening. The afternoon was two concurrent sessions in which presenters took 15-20 minutes to present their research. I have listed a sampling of the research topics at the end of this entry.

Our Conference host, Wang Xiamin, Professor and Association President of International Rooftop Landscaping Association, mc'd the proceedings. Dignitaries included Zhou Ganzhi a member of the Chinese Academy of Science and Academy of Engineering and a former Minister of Constructio; Luo Zhewen, Vice Director of the Expert Committee of National Historic and Cultural Cities; Cao Nanyan, Inspector, Division of Urban Construction, Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development. It is clear that there is high level support for city greening and an interest in zero carbon development using 'high-technology'. There is also much interest in the development of home grown roof greening products.

Interest in green roofs appears to be about making cities more liveable, addressing the evident air quality problem plaguing China, and some about providing alternate park spaces of beauty and relaxation for residents of the ubiquitous high rise buildings although there was some discussion about dealing with urban heat islands, food production. Water conservation and biodiversity are still lower down the agenda.

Recent progress in roof greening in China was highlighted during the awards ceremony. The winner of the 'World Roof Vegetable Garden Best Town Award', Chengguan Town in Hebei Province, now has 100,000 square metres of rooftop vegetable gardens.

This was clearly a national recognition event with state-run media present as the other awards were given out:

• World Green Roof Best Organization (Green Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference organization)
• Best Unit (Greening Committee Office directly under Central Authority),
• Best City (Minhang District, Shanghai, where 150,000 square metres of green roofs were installed in 2009 alone)
• Best roof rice garden farmer (Mr. Peng Qiugen from Yang Xunqiao Town, Shaoxing County in Zhejiang province)
• Innovative Technology Award (Hainer Roofing System Co, Ltd - whose work we visited later in the week; Quanzhou Mingjing Plastic products Co, Ltd Roof afforestation fast series products; and Mr. Zhao Dingguo for his research at Shanghai's Academy of Agricultural Sciences on Disposable Lightweight Green Roof Sedum Plant Technology)Ecological Restoration and Innovation Product Award (Intalok Green Slope Technology, Ltd)
• Best Circular Ecological Economy Livable City (Ciping in Shandong Province
• World Best Roof Garden Award that went to Dongguk University in Korea

After a communal lunch served in their cafeteria - home-made food served on metal trays, with any waste collected for compost and the trays easily washed and re-used.  We returned for an afternoon set of presentations divided into two concurrent forums.

There were many interesting presentations, again translated from Chinese and English to the filled student auditorium. What struck me most was both the fact that each country was doing its own research and the value of exchanges of findings such as these and the preponderance of using one plant - sedum - as the green roof plant of choice. I was interested in Dr. Jim's research into native creepers to achieve a sustainable green living wall - he has encountered ones that can grow eight stories! Also the challenge in Hong Kong and Singapore of lack of ground land drives their resourcefulness to explore skyrise plantings. A conference will be held there in November of this year.

The incentives offered seemed to be similar however from country to country - easing of building restrictions such as height or width, tax rebates, grants and loans, and legal mandating. This is a rich topic to be explored much more in order to successfully extend the reach and application of living walls and roofs.

The third observation I made is that there is very little research being presented looking into the combination of technologies such as water and energy, energy and air quality. This seems an important next step especially as development in India and China continues at the scale of cities as large as Shanghai and Mumbai. If the urban planners can incorporate these multiple ecologically-based technologies into the design at the start, there seems to me to be the opportunity for an economy of scale and a cost effectiveness that warrants further exploration. From this gathering, it is hoped that my sponsor, Dr. Weber, who is a voice for such an exploration, may find one or more pilot projects to begin to generate some data and parameters from which to develop useful metrics.

Here is a sampling of the diversity of presentations on research we enjoyed:

• Green Roof Technology, Plant Species Richness, and Rainwater Management: Aspects tested in Berlin Germany given by the top green roof expert Professor Mannfred Koehler, also co-Chair of the entire conference as president of the World Green Roof Infrastructure Network
• Study on Impact of Light Green Roof on Roof Temperature by Zhao Dingguo
• The Greening of the Highrise Environment in Singapore: An Overview of Policy and Projects by Dr. Tan Puay Yok,
• Italian Green Technologies, Projects, and Style by Riccardo Rigolli, Italian Hanging Garden Association
• Green Roof regulations and Incentives by Jiang Taihao, professor Dept. of Landscaping, Dongguk University Korea
• The Initiation and Impetus for a Sustainable Green Roof Movement in Hong Kong by CY Jim, professor, University of Hong Kong
• The Green Roof Trend in Japan by Kenichiro Fujisaki, Lecturer Dept of Applied Biological Science, Nihon University, Tokyo Japan
• Green Roof Technology and Drinking Water by my sponsor, Dr. Karen Weber, President, Earth Our Only Home
• Study on the Heat Tolerant Quality of 4 Green Roof Plants by Wang Zhaolong, Ph.D. Shanghai Jiao Tong University
• Study on Ecological Benefits of urban Green Roof Garden by Wang Xiaolin, Professor, Taiwan
• The Creation of a Code of best Practice for Green Roof Installation in the UK by Jeff Sorrill, Centre manager, The Green Roof Centre, Sheffield UK
• Intalok Flexible Eco-Slope protective technology by Zhang Yushun, President Intalok
• * Hainer Wall Blanket by Yu-Lu, president Shanghai Hainer Architectural technology
• Selected Green Roof projects from Germany and the US- Key Factors for Success by Joseph DiNorscia, president and managing Director Skyland USA Llc
• The Tao of Sustainable Green Roofs in the Tropics by Ho Wan Weng, Managing Director ZinCo, Singapore
• Green Roofs and Green Walls as a Tool to Revitalize Urban and Building Residential Spaces by Monica Perez Baez, PhD, Dept of Architecture and Design, Kyoto Institute of Technology Japan
• The Chinese Roof Afforestation: Present Situation and Future by Wang Xianmin

2010 Shanghai World Expo (Shanghai, Day 2)

This is the 2nd post in the Shanghai Journal by guest blogger Renee Toll-DuBois of Earth Our Only Home who recently traveled to Shanghai to attend the World Green Roof Conference and the 2010 World Expo.  All text and photographs courtesy of Renee Toll-DuBois.  The 1st post can be read here.

The beginning of our World Green Roof Conference experience was a trip to the 2010 Shanghai World Expo. The World Expo site is a 5 square kilometre area of former steelworks next to the Huangpo River. Once polluted, it will now become a new district of the city once the Expo is over. See http://en.expo2010.cn.

The Expo spans both sides of the river. This first day we explored the larger expanse that has the majority of country pavilions.We had the chance to hear from one of the organizers responsible for the Expo. he shared with us that the 2010 Shanghai World Expo is the latest in a long line of International Fairs that have their origins in the Great Exhibition of 1851. This has been an enormous undertaking which is bigger than anything before and has more pavilions than any previous event. There are country, region, and city pavilions, 270 in total!

Our Chinese host outlined 3 major themes:

1. harmony between humans and nature - exemplified in the exphasis of pavilions to model sustainable, low carbon development, the greening of cities, and the overall theme of the Expo: Better cities, better livin as well as the work done on the riverbank, on cleaning up the river, and restoring what we would define as a brownfield into a riverside park.
2. harmony between people exemplified in the range of countries invited and participating in the Expo that included, if I understood correctly, countries with whom the PRC does not have formal diplomatic relations!
3. harmony between past, present, and future - exemplified by the emphasis on paying tribute and maintaining elements, especially cultural ties to the past while transforming the present into a new and better future.

Author posing with mascot

The event has cost China more than the Olympics and the organisers expect to have more than 70 million visitors this summer. They have designed a mascot called Seababy that is everywhere in evidence throughout Shanghai.

Our two busloads disembarked at the group gate parking area, a giant roofed area designed to handle the incredible volume of daily visitors, many thousands of people. As one of the sustainable features, visitors can arrive either by subway - they extended a line directly into the Expo - or by bus, as we did. While a person can physically bicycle into the grounds, there are no places to securely lock your bike, so there are some limitations. There are no individual vehicle parking areas that I was aware of, so people need to either come by bus or by metro.

While the cattle like queuing was a bit frustrating, it did keep things moving in a well-organized fashion, especially for the security check that each visitor undergoes. Much like an airport, we walked through a doorway that beeps with any metal, our person may be "swept" by a hand-held device, and bags are sent through the xray machine. They were looking not only for explosives etc but also remarkably for any bottles of water (remember we drank only bottled water) as there are concessions within the Expo Park and we were not to bring in any water ourselves!

France: Interior living wall courtyard

I made it to only eight pavilions today, prioritizing those with green roofs, living walls as indicated in the promotional literature. (Read Dr. Karen Weber's February, 2010 article, International Summit in Shanghai: The Green Roof Solution to the Impending Drinking Water Crisis in India, Western China and Neighboring Countries to see some of those early schematics) These include: India, Switzerland, France, Luxembourg, and I had hoped to visit Saudi Arabia but it was a three hour wait!! I also stopped in to the African and Oceania regional pavilions, as well as the New Zealand pavilion. I saw the Theme Pavilion focused on urban living that sports a 500square meters green wall, and heard numerous reports from the improved riverside area that has a linear park and restored and improved water's edge that will resist flooding.

I do think that the number of green roofs and living walls as well as other ecological planting and restoration components can be seen as a sign of how these features are now recognised as key components of the sustainable, healthy, future green city.

In my opinion as a lay person and newcomer to the world of green roofs and living walls, I would say that many of the green roofs or living walls were not so very impressive with the exception of India, Switzerland that I visited - but they do indicate that this design component is beginning to gain general acceptance in many areas of the world. As I said I saw only a limited few and may have missed others, even certain features in the pavilions I did visit, as a lay person, however I commend the Chinese for choosing the theme that would prioritize including green features and energy saving and efficient elements into the design of the pavilions.

Not all pavilions had elements that were obvious or even real - the Saudi palms on the roof are plastic for instance ! but the public does not visit there so the dramatic pavilion puting trees on a roof likely will remain in your mind. In fact many pavilions may not have had any elements but all were to in some way address the theme of better cities, better living.

Luxembourg was very pleasant, using planters in parallel rows along the walls to bring you in. France had a living interior, courtyard walls we gazed at from within the exhibits, but I did not see the green living roof that the promotional drawing suggested.

Switzerland I waited to see nearly two hours in the sun among the sea of parasols and it was well-worth the wait as it offered a series of answers to the question of what makes a better city and better living, with images of different places in Switzerland complemented by a chair lift ride up through a living cylinder out onto and over a luxuriant green roof meadow of grass and wildflowers and a spectacular view across the river. I learned from Gary Grant, ecologist from the UK who works with livingroofs.org (see his blog) that Switzerland now mandates green roofs must provide habitat for two specific endangered butterflies! .

The Expo grounds are extensively planted, using many eco-friendly products such as porous concrete paving blocks.The climate is semi-tropical it seemed which explained the wrapping of the newly planted trees in rope and burlap, to protect them from scorching. The extensive pruning done, which I also saw in the city proper is apparently learned from the Japanese and the trees seem to thrive.

It was the India pavilion that most impressed me. As we zigzagged around the building during our 1+hr wait, we had an up close view of their living walls, tri-color bands of plants that appeared to be new Guinea Impatiens, dusty miller and another very familiar plant. I have no idea where all the plants we saw came from and who is the grower, distributor and the extent to which they are native, imported, etc. We also had a chance to see the living roof up close which I quite enjoyed for its design and beauty as well as practicality. You may be able to see the wind turbine at the top of the building. 

The pavilion was designed as a two-story structure with an inner courtyard that housed a performance stage and various commercial booths. The upper level housed a space that displayed artifacts and exhibits about the culture and history. I learned for instance that India has had at least two astronauts! This exhibit area culminated in a viewing area where a holographic computer generated image was projected and suspended in air in the darkness and swirling colors changed and evolved providing viewers a marvelous show through time of culture, history and technology, impressive even without being able to understand the Chinese narration! Definitely a wonderful combination of experiences to absorb!

Another favorite was the New Zealand pavilion that included an outdoor space providing visitors an experience of different features. This included a rooftop vegetable garden, living roof, and mature tree.

Sri Lanka's pavilion had two gem cutters using traditional person-powered technology, performance space, and highlighted both their Buddhist tradition as well as their many World Heritage locations.

The African and Oceania regional pavilions were fantastic. The light was too low for my camera to capture the richness available that shared traditional culture and the modern commercial export interests, tourism, and other successes and achievements, including the Green Belt movement originating in Kenya of Nobel Peace prize winner, Wangari Maathai.

I was treated to performances of the traditional Haka warrior dance, other oceanic dances, East African drummers and dancers, Malaysian and Chinese singers as the afternoon turned to evening and I returned to the bus and our hotel.

Ho Wan Weng, managing director, ZinCo Singapore Pte Ltd, invited me and Karen and his colleague, Dr. Tan Puay Yok, Vice Director, Centre for Urban Greenery and Ecology in Singapore, out to a marvelous Chinese restaurant in the "thumb" district, known for the sculpture outside the plaza of two hands whose thumbs are quite prominent. We feasted on an extensive array of both vegetarian and meat dishes, many of them typical to Shanghai and the region, as both men were knowledgeable and frequent visitors to Shanghai, China's long-time commercial and financial center.

Shanghai Journal, Day 1

Thanks to guest blogger Renee Toll-DuBois of Earth Our Only Home, local ecologist is pleased to offer several essays about Shanghai, the Shanghai World Green Roof Conference, and the 2010 Shanghai World Expo.  All text and photographs courtesy of Renee Toll-DuBois, except where noted.

Introduction: I am visiting Shanghai as the guest of Dr. Karen Weber, president of Earth Our Only Home, and we are here for the World Green Roof Conference and the 2010 Shanghai World Expo. I have been volunteering with Karen for the past several months as she works to advance her idea for combining other technologies with green roof (and wall) technology specifically to address the real and present crisis of drinking water in W. China and India. I am a lay person and newcomer to the world of green roofs so this is an exciting adventure and learning experience I hope to share with you, as I also share the sights and innovations I see in Shanghai itself as a major urban area.

Day one: We are up early, given the time difference (12 hours and across the international date line) and excited to be here in the PRC, for the World Green Roof Conference and the 2010 Shanghai World Expo. Karen and I head over to the park she discovered last night, just across the street from our hotel. Although it is only about 6 am, there are already some people out, bicycling in the separate lane provided, tending the plants of the park, and doing tai-chi! I am pleased to see that public trash receptacles provide the option to separate recyclables from other trash! Boston can take a tip. The park turns out to be not even a real park, simply another of the planted areas that one finds all over Shanghai and is lovely with its trees, hedges, and rose bushes. It leads to a well-manicured planted pedestrian boulevard that houses the enormous and modern science and technology museum (the name of the subway stop) as well as an underground shopping mall.

With another conference delegate, Michael, we head for the Bund and Nanjing Road, to be tourists for the day. According to Wikipedia, I learn the Bund houses 52 buildings of various architectural styles such as Romanesque, Gothic, Renaisaance, Baroque, Neo-Classical, Beaux Arts, and Art Deco (Shanghai has one of the richest collections of Art Deco architectures in the world). The Shanghai Bund, one of the most famous tourist destinations in Shanghai, has dozens of these historical buildings, lining the Huangpu River, that once housed numerous banks and trading houses from the United Kingdom, FRance, the US, and Britain, a newspaper, the Shanghai Club and the Masonic Club. The Bund lies north of the old, walled city of Shanghai which was initially a British settlement; later the British and American settlements were combined in the International Settlement.

The metro operates very similarly to BART and Boston's T: one buys a ticket from a machine that one then feeds into the turnstyle machine which opens as it returns your ticket to you you'll need to exit. The metro is clean and modern and well-used. Karen discovers one can get the equivalent of a Charlie card, a reusable card for which you pay a deposit of 20 US$, then load with whatever value you want and when you are done, say at the end of a week, you return it and get your deposit back. We take the metro to what we determine as the nearest subway stop to the Bund and surface to find ourselves deep within the heart of tourists, taking photos of the Oriental Pearl Tower.

We walk around, asking for the Bund and end up taking an underground "unmanned" transport beneath the river that was once simply transportation now converted to a tourist attraction complete with eight light shows!. Finally we make it to our destination: the Bund and walk the promenade along the river.

There we meet two Chinese women, Jasmine and Mari, who invite us to join them for a tea ceremony which invitation we accept and proceed to learn about and sample five different kinds of tea, each with their own cup, technique and purpose/benefit. Truly an experience we, as non-Chinese speakers, would have missed!

Nanjing Road, courtesy of Wiki user Héctor Tabaré

We stroll Nanjing Road, which, according to Wikipedia is the main shopping street of Shanghai and one of the world's busiest shopping streets.Today's Nanjing Road comprises two sections, Nanjing Road East and Nanjing Road West. We were on what was pre-1945 Nanjing Road, today's Nanjing Road East, which is largely pedestrians only and is filled with shoppers, neon, digital video screens, bicycles, and people! I also enjoy my first steamed dumplings however as a vegetarian not the dumplings for which Shanghai is known.

Later in the day, we also meet another pair of Chinese women who are art students from the Yellow Mountain district of China in town to have a show and visit the World Expo. We see their artwork and then enjoy the abundantly delightful colors and festive atmosphere provided by the night-time neon lights along Nanjing Road as we return to the Bund, and grab the metro. We enjoy a hot bowl of noodles and vegetables in broth for under $3 at the underground food court style shopping mall in the metro station area and return to our hotel for the night.

Can you help us i.d. this tree? It smells good

Photograph courtesy of A.R.

The tree in question is a linden, most likely an American linden (Tilia americana).  The leaves are larger than those one would find on a littleleaf linden (T. cordata) and the undersides of these leaves do not appear silver like those of a silver linden (T. tomentosa).  This linden is growing in Providence, Rhode Island.

3 ways to identify a Styphnolobium japonicum in NYC

We don't mean to imply that there are only three ways to identify a tree, a Styphnolobium japonicum, in New York City.  Please let us know how you identify trees! 

The tag reads: Styphnolobium japonicum - Japanese Pagoda Tree

1. A straightforward way to identify a Styphnolobium japonicum is via a name tag.   The Styphnolobium japonicum in question  -- growing in the sidewalk on Waverly Place near 6th Avenue -- has such a tag on one of its branches.  (The City via the New York Tree Trust labels street trees as part of its Sidewalk Arboreta program.)  By the way, Styphnolobium japonicum is synonymous with Sophora japonica.

2. We recently acquired a smart phone and downloaded the Trees Near You (Trees NY) app designed by Brett Camper using the City's street tree census data.  Trees NY provides the species name and diameter-at-breast-height information for trees in its database.

3. Another recent acquisition is Edward Sibley Barnard's New York City Trees: A Field Guide for the Metropolitan Area.  The Styphnolobium japonicum is detailed on page 144 of the guide: leaf, flower, fruit, and bark.  Barnard also lists several places where the tree is growing.  Here's an excerpt from Barnard's description of the tree:

A legume like its American cousin the yellowwood, the Chinese scholartree bears showy clusters of frangrant, creamy-white flowers in mid to late summer after most trees have finished blooming.  Once fertilized, each flower produces a long pod constricted between seeds.  Very tolerant of polluted air, heat, and drought, the Chinese scholartree is a handsome and successful street and city park tree.

Read more about the history of the Chinese scholartree, from its use as a memorial tree in China to its contemporary role as a street tree. Don't forget to tell us what tools you use to identify trees where you live.

6 things to do with Amelanchier

Amelanchiers or serviceberries grow as shrubs or small trees and are part of the rose family (Rosaceae). Amelanchier arborea (common serviceberry) is native to the Eastern United States. Amelanchier canadensis, and A. x grandiflora, a hybrid of A. arborea and A. laevis (Alleghany serviceberry) are planted as street trees. Amelanchier canadensis (Canadian serviceberry) is an approved NYC street tree. As part of the city's Sidewalk Arboreta program, Canadian serviceberries have been labelled at Asser Levy (Manhattan) and at Queensboro Hall (Queens).

This Amelanchier is located on LaGuardia Place at 4th Street.  (Eat Street Trees!).

1. Plant it
2. Eat it (berries)
• Used in jams and pies; good raw, too 
• An ingredient in pemmican, a Native American food 
• Wildlife forage 
• Song birds* (A. arborea, A. canadensis)
• Bees** (A. canadensis, A. laevis)
• Gypsy moth*** (A. arborea)
• Also eaten by “raccoons, opossums, foxes, bears and even bobcats” (A. arborea, canadensis, and laevis)
3. "Force" it (for instructions, read Carol Stocker's Want blooms? Just use gentle persuasion Boston Globe article)
4. Smell it (fragant flowers)
5. Admire it (seasonal interest – read more at Flatbush Gardener)
6. Go fish (also known as shadbush because flowers at the same time that shad spawn)

*, ** Wildlife Gardens Species List (NYC Parks & Recreation Department)
*** Amelanchier arborea species information (US Forest Service)

Post ideas

I use a notebook to keep track of my ideas for blog posts.  I write, I draw, I paste content from magazines.  I've filled a few notebooks.  In my current notebook, I have six outstanding ideas:

• things to do with Amelanchier (serviceberry)
• container gardens in front of Mercer Street's boutique shops
• low tree cover in SoHo
• the impact of the NYU 2030 on existing tree cover in the Village
• small subdivision of stucco houses on Martin Terrace, Hackensack, NJ
• plaque honoring Stuyvesant's pear tree in the East Village
• series about tree planting diagrams (I have a collection of diagrams)

In addition to these potential posts, Renee Toll-DuBois has graciously provided several journal entries from her attendance at the Shanghai Expo; stay tuned!

Do you have any topics you'd like us to explore?  Tell us about them in the comments section.