Use of Trees

Trees have many uses in the landscape,

• environmental, providing shade and shelter, absorbing pollutants and reducing wind speed.
• economic, while costly to plant and maintain, a locality with plenty of trees will attract investment and higher house prices.
• aesthetic, contrasting with the rigid outlines of buildings, creating an avenue, indicating the passing of the seasons. 

In urban areas, street trees, trees in public open space, retail parks and trees in private gardens form the urban forest.

• in rural areas, trees define boundaries of fields, are grown as specimens in fields (parkland trees), provide shelter for cattle and are an integral part of much of the Irish countryside.

The images below illustrate some of the uses of trees in U.C.D., in Dublin, other cities and in rural areas in Ireland and abroad.