As much as I dislike sparkling new subdivisions built on cleared land denuded of trees or any other natural vegetation, this then and now set is a reminder that even many of the older, tree-lined neighborhoods we love so much today didn’t always look that way. So maybe there’s hope for those far-flung McMansion districts too, assuming their tight-assed HOAs ever allow anything to be planted. Or maybe not…
Trees
Published
You could also argue that that particular neighborhood is just an old suburb, and thus its development behaved the same. On the other hand, several specific design elements of new suburbs make them less likely to end up this way: elimination of a walkable-scale street grid (most new developments are a maze of long, winding roads with huge lots for each house), lack of any nearby commerce (zoning laws largely still prohibit it) and shoddy construction that will result in these houses largely not lasting as long as the older ones did.
Personally, I think my favorite neighborhoods these days are the ones that don’t always have room for trees in the first place…
This is my old neighborhood in Durham . . . I loved it! I could walk to East Campus and the Ninth St. neighborhood, but all my classes, etc. were on West Campus, so I usually drove, though I could have taken the shuttle. It’s such a pretty area.