Do you have a vision for greening up your town? Does your municipality want to add to its “urban forest”? Tree Canada and the TD Friends of the Environment Foundation have a new program called Green Streets designed to help municipalities grow their green assets.
According to their website, they’re interested in proposals about urban forest planning, innovative demonstration projects showcasing individual trees or a forest, workshops on policy and best management practices, educational programs on arboricultural practices, innovative tools to protect and maintain the urban forest, planting techniques, and urban design that showcases “green infrastructure” (which they define as the use of trees, shrubs and other plants as an integrated part of urban design such that the environmental health and quality of life for communities is maximized).
There’s immense value to adding tree to the urban landscape, of course — they cool our streets, they clean our air, they provide some sources of food and shelter to birds and other creatures, they absorb water and retain soil. But beyond that, trees and other natural elements are essential to our well-being, according to the theory of biophilic design.
I first came across this term last week while at a talk with Steven Peck, president of Green Roofs for Healthy Cities. According to the book “Biophilic Design: The Theory, Science and Practice of Bringing Buildings to Life” by Stephen R. Kellert, Judith Heerwagen, Martin Mador, (Wiley, 2008), “Looking at biophilic needs as an adaptive product of human biology relevant today, rather than as a vestige of a now-irrelevant past, we can argue that the satisfaction of our biophilic urges is related to human health, productivity, and well-being.” The book lists all kinds of positive impacts of having contact with natural spaces, from improved worker productivity to better recovery from illness and major surgery.
So if you have an idea for how your municipality — perhaps in tandem with another neighbouring area or a local environmental group — can improve your urban greenscape, get your application in for the Green Streets program by April 6.
