Why we may be getting urban tree planting all wrong

I recently moved back to my hometown, York, a small city in the north of England. It is historically rich and culturally vibrant, but lacking in one department: trees. According to the council, its canopy cover was just over 10 per cent in 2022, which is on the low side. The European average is around 15 per cent and London has around 20 per cent.

York has plans to do something about this, in recognition of the fact that urban trees have myriad benefits. These include cooling, carbon sequestration, pollution…