Urban Forestry 101 | Chapter 5
Urban Forestry 101 TREES IN THE CITY P. 34
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5 THE NATURAL-TO-URBAN TRANSECT P. 32 | THE HOMEGROWN NATIONAL PARK P. 37
ost American cities, like Cedar Rapids, are not all that ur-
ban. A downtown hardscape transitions rather quickly to a suburban ring, which is then interspersed with parks, campuses, and other large open spaces. Parts of town could even be called forest. A proper approach to tree planting and management in cities acknowledges that there is a spectrum of place types from fully natural to fully urban, and each requires its own approach. City planners call this spectrum the transect.