A new street photographs beautifully on launch weekend and badly at year five, when the saplings are still sticks and the verges have been driven over. The variables that decide how it reads at year fifteen are set long before anyone chooses a brick.
Three numbers that matter
- Verge width. Under 1.8 metres a canopy tree never gets a root ball, and you get a street of ornamental shrubs.
- Setback depth. Shallow setbacks push parking to the kerb and the street becomes a car park.
- Species mix. One species is a monoculture waiting for a pathogen. Five is a neighbourhood.