NZ visual diary - entry 81

branch movement - Queen Street

As our understanding of urban renewal has shifted from a philosophy of demolish and replace, perhaps best personified by Robert Moses in the latter half of 20th century New York City, to one of preserve and restore, a phrase like 'urban landscape' can be used to express something richer than metaphor.

The job category of urban arborist nicely captures and expresses the tangible shift in our use of the term 'urban landscape.' Planting mature trees and rain gardens along city streets, and not just in city parks, are hallmarks of urban re-design. Today, we plant, as it were, not only buildings but trees along our city streets.

A renewed interest in the material and aesthetic conditions of city streets, beyond the repair of pot holes, signifies a reconceptualisation of our understanding of urban landscape: from architectural metaphor to horticultural practice.

For a street and architectural photographer, the presence of mature trees along city streets also offers the possibilities of visualising in mixed media. The overlay -- and interplay -- of branch and building creates wonderful visual moments . . . be it in the scene above, captured recently while walking along Queen Street in Auckland or below a decade ago on a street in Lexington, Kentucky.