ABSTRACT
Throughout the history of urbanism, there has almost always been an interweaving of structures of plantation with urban armatures and tissues. In Europe and Asia, forests have traditionally formed the counter-figure of the city (from Karlsruhe to the Barcelona plan of Cerda-although that plan is usually represented without the unrealized forest), embedded the city (from Versailles to Suzhou), or complemented the city (from Paris to Dalat). In an attempt to locate Islamabad in a “natural environment,” its foundation (plan of Doxiadis, 1960) was developed hand in hand with the systematic afforestation of the Margalla Hills, a previously barren mountain chain. In Europe, the Forêt de Soignes in Brussels, Epping Forest in London, Bois de Boulogne or de Vincennes in Paris, and Wiernerwald (Vienna Woods), among others, bear witness to how forests have become an essential identity of the city (Figure 21.1) (Forrest and Konijnendijk 2005). In many parts of Asia, cities historically developed in relation to a worldview that included geomancy ( feng shui) and divination, which limited the activities of man; beliefs in land gods, river kings, and forest spirits were both practical and mystical (Cuc 1999; Yu et al. 2006). The central highlands Vietnamese city of Dalat is known as the “city of thousands pine trees” (De Meulder and Shannon 2012), Suzhou, known as “Venice of the East” and famous for its canals and garden, yet it is embedded in an equally awe-inspiring forest setting. At the same time, lines
21.1 Introduction .................................................................................................. 427 21.2 Nutshell History: Urban Forests and Trees................................................... 429 21.3 Shifting Paradigms ....................................................................................... 430 21.4 Southwest Flanders ....................................................................................... 431 21.5 Mekong Delta ................................................................................................ 439 21.6 Forests and Trees in Delta Cities .................................................................. 447 References ..............................................................................................................448 Suggested Reading .................................................................................................449
