cultural background and landscape history of the urban forest

8/13/2019 Cultural Background and Landscape History of the Urban Forest.

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106 Fraser and Kenney: Cultural Factors Affecting Perception of Urban Forest

CULTURAL BACKGROUND AND LANDSCAPEHISTORY AS FACTORS AFFECTING PERCEPTIONSOF THE URBAN FORESTby Evan D G Fraser1 and W Andrew Kenney2Abstract. Because a large proportion of the urban forestgrows on private property, it is necessary to have broadcommunity support for urban forestry. As people from allover the world live in Canadian cities, it was hypothesizedthat people with different cultural backgrounds would havedifferent perceptions of the urban forest. This hypothesiswas tested by (1) researching different landscaping tradi-tions;(2) interviewing mem bers of four different com mu ni-ties; and (3) conducting vegetation inventories. Inventoryand interview data prov ided a consistent picture of the fourcommunities. The British community reacted the mostpositively to shade trees. They also expressed the greatestwillingness to plant shade trees, had the most shade treesper square meter on their properties, and were the onlygroup that liked naturalized parks (hiking paths). The Chi-nese community showed less yard maintenance than theother communities, and many of the Chinese indicated thatthey did not want to add trees to their property. The Chi-nese responded more favorably than the other groups tophotographs depicting landscapes free of trees. Italian andPortuguese communities emphasized fruit trees and veg-etable gardens, and responded negatively toward shadetrees when these were in conflict with their gardens. Thesecultural differences are largely consistent with the tradi-tional use of trees in British, Mediterranean and Chineselandscaping, and appear to be maintained among NorthAmerican immigrant populations.

Key Words. Urban forestry; cultural geography; cul-tural perceptions.

It is well established that trees in the city provide sub-stantial benefits for urban residents. Trees reducesummer temperatures , both by cast ing shade and byact ing as natural a ir condit ioners through transpir ingwater (Nowak 1994). Trees a lso diminish a tmosphericpollut ion, par t ly by sequ ester ing carbon as they grow,and a lso by lowering summer temperatures , thus re-ducing the need to consume energy for a ir condit ion-ing (Heisler 1986; Federer 1989; Akbari e t a l . 1992).In addition, trees provide valuable wildlife habitat andprotect species d iversi ty in the urban environment.However, because a large proport ion of urban trees

grow on private property, support for urban forestmanagement among individual landowners is impor-tant. If private home owners do not support urbanforestry, attempts to promote the urban forest canopymay face resistance (Hull 1992; Sommer 1994).In the early 1990s, when both Toronto andVancouver, Canada, enacted bylaws to restrict the cut-ting of mature trees on private property, objectionsand compliance problems were encountered amongcertain cultural groups (Moloney 1995; Vincent1995). A plausible hypothesis is that cultural factorsresulted in widely different attitudes towards trees inthe urban environment (Talbot and Kaplan 1984;Schroeder and Daniel 1981). Subsequently, our studyfocused on distinct cultural communities in Toronto.A brief historical review identified key features of therole of trees in the domestic landscape of each culturalgroup. Then an empirical study compared attitudestoward trees and other landscape features amongpresent-day members of those cultures (Johnson andMonear 1994).LANDSCAPE HISTORYOf the four groups studied, three distinct landscapehistories emerged: the British landscape tradition,which is dominated both economically and culturallyby large forests, the Mediterranean, which emulatessmall-scale agriculture, and the Chinese, which hasevolved a tradition of abstract ornamental gardens.BritishThroughout the Middle Ages, forests in England weremanaged primarily for three uses: timber for the navy,firewood for the common people, and game produc-tion for the gentry (Hunter 1985). The emphasis ongame created an early and significant association be-tween the elite of society and natural areas, as closeadvisors to the king were often lords of valuable landand were expected to ensure a plentiful supply of ani-mals to hun t d uring royal visits. Because the aristocrat


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Journal of Arboriculture 26(2): March 2000 107

spared no expense for the visual amenity of thesenatural spaces, their forested manor homes became asymbol of the wealth, power, and prestige of upper-class English society (Miles 1967 ).The British Navy, with its voracious appetite forEnglish oak, reinforced this system. The British Em-pire was built on the power of its sea routes, and thisdemanded both merchant ships and a large navy tokeep the trade routes safe from piracy. Thus, for anaristocrat, planting an oak forest for the navy was notonly a sound business investment but an act of alle-giance to the British crown (Hunter 1985).With the economic upheaval of the IndustrialRevolution, traditional land rights and tenure security

were eroded under a number of economic changesthat discouraged long-term investments in forestry.The traditional forests of Britain also lost ground eco-nomically when iron cladding replaced oak for shiphulls. With the development of iron ships, the mainpurpose of the British forest industry vanished(Hyams 1977).However, the emerging class of wealthy industrial-ists,eager to gain status in the eyes of the landed gen-try, adopted many of the visible trappings ofestablished wealth. This included embracing old-stylecountry man ors and wood ed prop erties, often by buy-ing the estates of bankrupt gentry and copying thearistocrats' lifestyle. Thus, the relationship betweenmature deciduous stands and the social elite wasmaintained (Miles 1967).

Concurrent with the Industrial Revolution was areaction in Britain against industrial development thatromanticized the world of nature (Bunce 1994). TheEnglish school of landscape architecture brought thecountry into the city in the form of greenspace plan-ning in order to minimize the negative effects of in-dustrial manufacturing such as pollution and visuallyunappealing factories (Aalen 1992). This urban plan-ning movement, called the Garden City Movement,gained a strong following in Britain and in NorthAmerica, where its mark can been seen in the designof the downtown core of Washington, D.C. and NewYork's Central Park.ChineseChinese landscape history reflects the relationship be-tween Confucianism and Taoism, two rival philoso-phies that underscore much of Chinese culture.Confucianism imposed a rigid social hierarchy which,

in turn, influenced urban planning. The geometricsymmetry of Asian cities is a reflection of Confucianideals, and it reinforces class boundaries and socialgroups (Keswick 1978). For example, Chinese citieswere walled, not only to protect the inhabitants andthe emperor, but also so that the emperor could keepwatch over his vassals (Liu 1989). Furthermore, Chi-nese citizens had little or no direct role in shaping thecity, and what little green space exists in Chinese citiesis und er the control of the government.

The layout of traditional Chinese homes also re-flects Confucian values of hierarchy and social order.The typical Chinese home, which has changed verylittle in the past 3,000 years, generally consists of anumber of buildings in which members of an ex-tended family live. These all would face onto one ormore courtyards separated by dining rooms and areascommon to the whole family (Tsu 1988). This layoutclosed the family off from the rest of society andbrought the outdoors into the family's private com-pound. For the Chinese, unlike the British whosought privacy by having nature around the home,the space outside the home is unimportant becausethe in ner co urtyard is whe re the family socializes.The family courtyard was the traditional area wherethe rigidity of Confucianism gave way to the experien-tial philosophy of Taoism. In the courtyard, the Chi-nese family tried to create artistic abstractions of nature ,rather than attempting to reproduce it. The designers ofa Taoist courtyard tried to prevent the ends of designfeatures from being visible, and they avoided straightlines. Furtherm ore, trees play a very small part in Chi-nese gardens. Water, stone, and buildings are the criti-cal elements of the Chinese garden, and a highlyinfluential style manual, Yuan ye (The Craft oj Gardens)from the 1800s, only mentions plants in conjunctionwith water, rocks, and buildings (Titley and Wood1991). In contrast, North American parks tend to befull of large trees and expansive lawns. To the Chineseimmigrant, such a literal recreation of nature mightseem empty and uninteresting (Keswick 1978).

Thus, three cultural issues highlight Chinese land-scapes: 1) Chinese gardens are in courtyards andmuch more private than North American front andback yards, 2) Chinese gardens are abstract and donot stress vegetation, and 3) the social hierarchy inChina prevented people from developing a traditionof involvement with urban design, even to the extentof not beautifying the outsides of their homes.


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The fragility of the Mediterranean soil also influ-

ch crops from soil degraded by m illennia of use.

Being one of the earliest hub s of Western society, the

rgely replaced by agricultural and introduced species.naturalized landscape, wh ich is the goal of some con-

centuries ago.The Renaissance villa also influenced the relation-

airs, the bu ildings w ere a refuge w here on e

979).

landscape tradition. To control for social and economicvariables between households, each of the study popu-lations had an average combined annual household in-come between Cdn$45,000 and $55,000, and lived indetached or semi-detached homes built before 1945 . Incommunity (census tracts 079 and 338 ), 50% of resi-dents self-identified as British. In community 2 (tracts027, 028, and 029), 50% of residents self-reported asbeing of Chinese origin. In community 3, 67% of theresidents were of Italian background (tracts 110, 111,and 112), and in community 4 (tracts 042, 043, and044), 35% to 40% w ere of Portuguese background, asreported in 1991 .

InterviewTo identify a sample of households for study in eachcommunity, names that could be identified as Chinese,British, Italian, and Portuguese were selected from a listof all residents in each respective area, and a randomselection of 50 of these names was generated for study.To control for intrapopulation social and economicvariability, information was gathered from each respon-dent on age, length of time in Canada, and whetherthey owned or rented their homes.A total of 210 interviews were conducted in the

summ er of 1996. Two to three days before interviewerswent into a comm unity, a letter ofintent,translated intothe language of the community, was delivered to allhouses selected for study. Interview questions weretranslated by representatives from each com munity andby student research assistants fluent in the relevant lan-guage. The interviews were administered face to face bythese same student assistants.The interview itself had five sections:1. Respondents were asked what changes they hadmade or would make to their gardens.2. Responden ts were asked what kind of tree theywould plant on their property.3. Next, respondents were shown a series of fivecomputer-generated home landscapes depictingthe same h ouse w ith either a lawn, a vegetablegarden and fruit tree, two shade trees, anornamental shrub garden, or an interlockingbrick patio. Half of the respond ents saw a two-storey brick h ouse , while the o ther half saw aone-storey stucco house. Respondents wereasked to ran k th e five front yards from 1 (mostpreferred) to 5 (least preferred).


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4. Respondents were then asked to react tophotographs of four different park types (aphotograph of a playing field, a flower garden,a playground, and a hiking path) and wereasked to score each one on a scale from 1 to 5whether the city would be improved by such apark type (5) or degraded (1) if there weremore of each type of park in the city.5. Finally, the interviewer asked some demo-graphic information, including whetherrespondents owned or rented their homes, howmany years they had been living in theirhomes, their age (in decades), and how manyyears or generations their families had lived inCanada.

Researchers made at least three attempts to contacteach person selected for the study at different hoursand on different days. If researchers were unable tomake contact with the person after the third try, therespondent was removed from the list and anotherwas randomly selected. In all, 15% of the people se-lected for study could not be reached, and 22% wereeither unwilling or unable to complete the interview,leaving 50 interviews in each community.InventoryWhile the interview was being conducted, a secondresearcher completed a vegetation inventory of therespondent's property. The size of the property wasmeasured, and the percentage of driveway, patio,flower garden, vegetable garden, lawn, and area leftuntended were estimated for both front and backyards. Surveyors subjectively rated the standard ofmaintenance of the yard using a score of 0 (no signof tending or care in the yard) to 2 (a great deal ofcare and maintenance).Trees on the property were counted and classed inone of four categories: shade, fruit, ornamental,shrubs. For the purpose of this study, shade trees wereconsidered to be more than 3 m (10 ft) high or of aspecies that would reach that height in its current lo-cation. Fruit trees were generally smaller and had anobvious horticultural purpose. Trees were classified asornamental if they were small or mid-sized (2 to 3 m[6.6 to 10 ft]) and had been added for landscapingpurposes rather than shade or fruit. Shrubs were de-fined as less than 2 m high and either were not species

that wou ld reach full tree size, or were planted in con-tainers that prevented them from growing to maturity.Thus, maples{Acerspp.) and spruce (Picea spp.) wereconsidered shade trees; crabapples (Malusspp.) andsaucer magnolia (Magnoliax soulangicmd) were classedas ornamental; and peach Prunusspp.) was classed asa fruit tree.Statistical AnalysisInventory data were analyzed by least squares analysisof variance using the general linear model (PROCGLM) ofSASInstitu te (1989 ) to detect significant dif-ferences among the four po pulatio ns in yard size, yardcomposition, maintenance score, and the types oftrees planted. Because an F-max test forheteroschedacity showed non-normality in the data,the Kruskal-Wallace test was used to confirm the 5%level of significance (Sokal and Rohlf 1981).

Interview data were analyzed in two ways. Ques-tions regarding park photographs and choice of land-scape were analyzed by least squares analysis ofvariance. Ratings of the park photographs were firststandardized to scores of +1 (the city would be im-proved by that type of park), 0 (the city would beneither improved nor worsened by that type of park),or -1 (the quality of the city would be lessened bythat type of park). For questions regarding changesthat residents had made, and the types of trees theyhad planted or would plant, differences between com-munities were tested by a Chi-square test for indepen-dent samples. Demographic questions (how longpeople had been in Canada, whether they owned orrented their home, their age, gender, and the numberof years they had lived in their house) were includedin the analysis of variance to test the influence thatthese factors played. Only results that showed a sig-nificant cultural effect are reported.ResultsWhen respondents were asked if they had planted orwould plant sha de, ornam ental, or fruit trees, it was theBritish who had planted (or would plant) the mostshade trees. The Italian community, followed by thePortuguese, had planted (or would plant) the most fruittrees, while the Chinese community had planted (orwould plant) the least number of trees. Similar resultswere obtained when responden ts were asked, If youwere to plant one tree in your yard, w ould it be a large


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shade tree, a small ornamental, or a fruit tree?(Table 1). Of the 50 Chinese responden ts, 22 answeredthis question by saying that they would no t plant a treein their yard even though this choice was not offered inthe wording of the question. A Chi-square test for inde-pendent samples confirmed significant differencesamong the four cultural groups (P


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Journal of Arboriculture 26(2); March 2000 111

Type of Recreational PhotographFlw Gd n Hiking Trail Play Grn d

Figure 2. Average improvem ent score -1 indicatesthe city would be worsened, +1 indicates the citywould be improved) assigned by British, Chinese,Italian, and Portuguese respondents to photo-graphs showing either a flower garden, hikingtrail, or playground. Means with the same letter donot differ significantly P < 0.05) by the Duncanpairwise comparison SAS Institute 198 9).value, and aesthetics go far beyond the individualhome owner and accrue to the community as awhole. However, the bulk of the trees in NorthAmerican cities grow on private property. As a result,these trees are beyond municipal jurisdiction and,with the exception of tree cutting bylaws that pro-hibit the removal of trees on private property, it isimpossible for the majority of the urban forest to beplanned or managed using conventional means. Asthis study has highlighted, cultural differences createanother layer of complexity in developing an urbanforest strategy. In each of the cultures studied, wecan see how the landscape traditions establishedover many centuries manifest themselves in today'surban environment. The British, with their heritageof wooded manors and large naturalized parks, werefar more interested than the other groups were inmature shade trees. The relationship between thistype of tree and this cultural group has been main-tained through the generations, and is still evident inthe actions of urban British-Canadians. Similarly, theMediterranean community, having evolved in asmall-scale agrarian culture, has transplanted theirgardens into the backyards of urban Canada, bring-ing with their tomato and basil plants a desire for acommunity where neighbors, living in houses un-

Figure 3. Number of trees per square meterplanted in the back yards of British, Chinese, Ital-ian, and Portuguese respondents. Means with thesame letter do not differ significantly P < 0.05) bythe Duncan pairwise comparison SAS Institute1989).concealed by trees, are a part of each other's lives.Far from being assimilated, therefore, cultural differ-ences continue to manifest themselves in the subtleways that people perceive and use nature in the city.In light of different cultural perceptions of theurban forest, there are three broad strategies that aplanner can adopt. First, the planner can choose toignore cultural differences in favor of the practical orclimatological benefits of the urban forest. In thiscase, planners should be prepared for resistancefrom certain communities and can hope for supportfrom others. In areas that are culturally mixed, andnot dominated by any one background, this may bethe only feasible approach. A second strategy is toforfeit the ecological benefits of urban trees and nottry to impose a canopy of mature shade trees on acommunity that will not support it. This strategymay be most appropriate in an area that is domi-nated by a group that is steadfastly opposed to shadetrees and may sabotage (either intentionally or inad-vertently) any attempts to establish them. In thiscase, an awareness of the community's perceptionmay prevent valuable resources from being spenttrying to enforce a management plan when the com-munity will be hostile to its goals. The last strategywould be to conduct an education program to showresidents the benefits of the urban forest and enlistcommunity support. Although such a program re-quires more time and effort, and involves much


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more than just planting trees, in some cases it mayprove to be a fruitful way of establishing or support-ing an urban forest plan.LITERATURE CITEDAalen, E 1992. Garden cities, past, present, and future. InWard, S. (Ed.). E&FN Spon, London, E ngland.Akbari, H., S. Davis, J. Dorsano, and S. Winnett. 1992.Cooling Our Communities. U.S. EnvironmentalProtection Agency, Report #PM-221/22p-200.Bethemont, J., a n d j . Pelletier. 19 79. Italy: A GeographicalIntroduction. Longman, London, England.Bunce, M. 1994. The Countryside Ideal. Routledge,London, England.Cosgrove, D. 1993. The Palladian Landscape. Leicester

University Press, London, England.Federer, C. 1989. Trees modify the urban microclimate. J.Arboric. 15:121-127.Heisler, G. 1986. Energy savings with trees. J. Arboric.12:113-125.Houston, J. 1964. The Western Mediterranean World: AnIntroduction to Its Landscapes. Longmans, London,England.Hull, B. 1992. Brief encounters with the urban forestproduces moods that matter. J. Arboric. 18:322-324.Hunter, J. 1985. Land into Landscape. George Goodwin,London, England.Hyams, E. 1977. The Changing Face of Britain. Paladin,St. Albans, EnglandJohnson, G., and C. Monear. 1994. A child's view of theurban forest. J. Arboric. 20 :336 -340 .Keswick, M. 1978. The Chinese Garden: History, Art andArchitecture. Rizzolli, Hong Kong.Liu, L. 1989 . Chinese A rchitecture. R izzolli, New York, NY.Miles, R. 1967. Forestry in the English Landscape. Faber& Faber, London, England.Moloney P. 1995. New curbs imposed on cutting oldertrees.The Toronto Star. 17 May.Nowak, D. 1994. Air pollution removal by Chicago's urbanforest. Results of the Chicago urban forest climate

project. Chapter 5, USDA Forest Service North EasternExperiment Station G eneral Technical Report, NE-186.Olschki, L. 1949. The Genius of Italy. Cornell UniversityPress, Ithaca, NY.SAS Institute 1989. SAS/STAT for Personal Computers.SAS Institute, Cary, NC.Schroeder, H., and T. Daniel. 1981. Preferred features ofurban parks and forests. J. Arboric. 8:71-81.Sokal, R., and J. Rohlf. 1981. Biometry. W.H. Freeman,New York, NY.Sommer, R. 1994. Social benefits of resident involvementin tree planting. J. Arboric. 20 :32 3-3 28.Talbot, J., and R. Kaplan. 1984. Needs and fears: theresponse to trees and nature in the inner city. J.Arboric. 10 :222-228 .Thackar, C. 1979. The History of Gardens. University of

California Press, Berkeley, CA.Titley N., and E Wood. 1991. Oriental Gardens: AnIllustrated History. Chronicle Books, San Francisco, CA.Tsu, E 1988. Landscape Design in Chinese Gardens.McGraw Hill, New York, NY.Vincent, I. 1995. Neighbourhood battles loom as naturemeets culture. The Globe and Mail. 17 November 17,pi . Evan D.G. Fraser2W. A ndrew KenneyFaculty ofForestryUniversity ofToronto33 Willcocks StreetToronto,ONM5S 3B3Correspondingauthor:Evan D.G. FraserThe Institute forResources and EnvironmentThe U niversity ofBritish ColumbiaRoom 436E, 2206 East MallVancouver, BC V6T 113


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Resume. Tout comme la population du monde entierqui vit dans les villes, on a pose l'hypothese que les gensavec des bases culturelles differentes auraient des percep-tions differentes de la for^t urbaine dans les villescanadiennes. Cette hypothese a ete examinee: 1) enrecherchant differentes traditions en amenagementpaysager, 2) en interrogeant les membres de quatrecommunautes differentes, 3) et en effectuant des inventairesde vegetation. La communaute britannique etait la pluspositive en regard des arbres ornementaux, exprimant leplus grand desir a planter des arbres, possedant sur leurpropriete le plus grand nombre d'arbres ornementaux aumetre carre et en etant le seul groupe qui appreciait lespares naturels avec des entiers de randonnee. Lacommunaute chinoise demontrait moins d'inte'ret que lesautres communautes pour l'entretien de leur propriete, etplusieurs ont mentionne qu'ils ne desiraient pas y ajouterd'arbres. Les communautes italienne et portugaisemettaient 1 emphase sur les arbres fruitiers et les jardinspotagers, et exprimaient des reponses negatives envers lesarbres ornementaux lorsqu'ils etaient en conflit avec leurjardin. Ces differences culturelles sont largement similairesavec les usages traditionnels des arbres dans lesamenagements paysagers de type britannique,mediterraneans et chinois et semblent s etre maintenuesparmi les populations immigrantes en Amerique du Nord.

Zusammenfassung. Da in kanadischen GroSstadtenMenschen aus aller Welt leben, wurde die Hypotheseaufgestellt, dafi Menschen mit unterschiedlichemkulturellen Hintergrund auch unterschiedliche Erwart-ungen an eine Stadtforstwirtschaft haben. Diese Hypothesewurde getestet durch 1. Erforschen der unterschiedlichentradition ellen Landschaftsformen, 2. Interviews mit Mit-gliedern aus vier verschiedenen Gemeinden und 3.Durchfuhrung von Vegetationsinventuren. Die britischeGemeinde reagierte sehr positiv auf Schattenbaume,druckte die grofite Bereitschaft aus, Schattenbaume zupflanzen, hatten die meisten Baume pro Quadratmeter auf

ihren Grundstucken und war die einzige Gruppe, dienaturliche Parkanlagen (mit Wanderpfaden) mochte. Diechinesische Gemeinde zeigte wenig Interesse an derUnterhaltung von Parkanlagen und viele fugten hinzu, daSsie keine Baume auf ihr Grundsttick pflanzen wurden. DieChinesen reagierten vorzugsweise gegenuber anderenGruppen auf Abbildungen ohne Baume. Die italienischenund portugiesischen Gemeinden bevorzogten Obstbaumeund Gemiisegarten und reagierten negativ auf Baume,wenn diese in Konflikt mit ihrem Garten geraten wurden.Diese kulturellen Unterschiede stimmen weitgehend mitder traditionellen Landnutzung in den britischen,mediterranen und chinesischen Landschaften uberem undscheinen sich in der nordamerikanischen Immigranten-population zu erhalten.

Resumen. Debido a que gente de todo el mundo viveen ciudades canadienses, se hizo la hipotesis de que la gentecon diferentes bagajes culturales podria tener percepcionesdiferentes del bosque urbano. Esta hipotesis fue probada:(1) investigando diferentes tradiciones acerca del paisaje;(2) entrevistando a miembros de cuatro diferentescomu nidades; y (3) realizando inventarios de la vegetation.La comunidad britanica reacciono mas positivamente hacialos arboles de sombra, expresando la mayor disposition aplantar arboles, tuvieron la mayor cantidad de arboles pormetro cuadrado en sus propiedades, y fueron el unicogrupo que gusto de los parques naturales (senderospeatonales). La comunidad china respondio mas favorab-lemente que otros grupos a fotografias sin arboles. Lascomunidades italiana y portuguesa hicieron enfasis en losarboles frutales y jardines de hortalizas, y respondieronnegativamente hacia los arboles de sombra cuandointerfirieran con sus jardines. Estas diferencias culturalesson fuertemente consistentes con el uso traditional de losarboles en los paisajes de Gran Bretana, China y elMediterraneo, y parecen mantenerse entre las poblacionesinmigrantes de N orte America.

cultural background and landscape history of the urban forest

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