Seeing Trees

A History of Street Trees in New York City and Berlin

By: Sonja Dumpelmann

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Hardcover | 12 February 2019 | Edition Number 1

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A fascinating and beautifully illustrated volume that explains what street trees tell us about humanityâs changing relationship with nature and the city

âA deep . . . dive into urban societyâs need forâ"and relationship withâ"trees that sought to return the natural world to the concrete jungle.ââ"Adrian Higgins, Washington Post

Winner of the Foundation for Landscape Studies' 2019 John Brinckerhoff Jackson Prize

Today, cities around the globe are planting street trees to mitigate the effects of climate change. However, as landscape historian Sonja D¼mpelmann explains, the planting of street trees in cities to serve specific functions is not a new phenomenon. In her eye-opening work, D¼mpelmann shows how New York City and Berlin began systematically planting trees to improve the urban climate during the nineteenth century, presenting the history of the practice within its larger social, cultural, and political contexts.

A unique integration of empirical research and theory, D¼mpelmannâs richly illustrated work uncovers this important untold story. Street treesâ"variously regarded as sanitizers, nuisances, upholders of virtue, economic engines, and moreâ"reflect the changing relationship between humans and nonhuman nature in urban environments. Offering valuable insights and frameworks, this authoritative volume will be an important resource for years to come.

Industry Reviews

"Duempelmann tracks the history of the modern street tree . . . A deep, scholarly dive into urban society's need for-and relationship with-trees that sought to return the natural world to the concrete jungle."-Adrian Higgins, Washington Post

"The book makes a convincing alternative case from the more traditional approach of "nature versus culture" dichotomy. Instead, Duempelmann portrays street trees as an integral part of the urban fabric. Professionals in forestry, urban development, and landscape architecture, as well as readers with a strong interest in the history of the urban landscape, will find this book enlightening as we move towards resilient cities of tomorrow."-Lumi Kirk, Garten + Landschaft

Seeing Trees has won the 2019 John Brinckerhoff Jackson prize, sponsored by the Foundation for Landscape Studies

Winner of the 2022 Elisabeth Blair MacDougall Book Award sponsored by the Society of Architectural Historians

Finalist for the 2019 Julia Ward Howe award for non-fiction, sponsored by The Boston Authors Club

"In this imaginative and deeply researched work, Sonja Duempelmann truly helps us to 'see trees' in the careful chronologies she develops and the political messages that these trees represented within their times and places."-Keith Morgan, Boston University

"In Seeing Trees the distinguished scholar Sonja Duempelmann employs her linguistic ability, knowledge, and imaginative use of the archival resources in both Berlin and New York to extend the boundaries of landscape history."-Kenneth Helphand, University of Oregon, author of Defiant Gardens: Making Gardens in Wartime

"Sonja Duempelmann distills a rich and textured history of street trees-the people involved, technical approaches employed, and the way street trees served as both a polemic and as a point of unification for people."-Susan Herrington, author of Landscape Theory in Design

"This meticulously researched and beautifully illustrated book chronicles the multifaceted identities of trees-as food, fuel, shelter, and defense-and offers us new ways of reading social history into the natural world."-Jennifer S. Light, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

"A signal contribution to the history of landscape design and city planning. Writing with narrative verve, Sonja Duempelmann turns rigorous scholarship into a fascinating story of time and place for both the academic and general reader."-Elizabeth Barlow Rogers, President, Foundation for Landscape Studies

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