City of Hobart Street Tree Master Plan

City of Hobart Street Tree Master Plan

City of Hobart

Inspiration

Hobart proclaims to be one of the most liveable cities in the world. Underpinning this assertion is the City’s record of having a canopy cover of over 59% of the city’s area. The rub is that while the City’s treed bushland is a stunning backdrop, it has been less successful in creating a green ‘foreground’. That is, leaving out bushland canopy cover, only ~17% of the canopy is where people live and only a fraction of this is in the City’s street system.

Outcomes

Inspiring Place — in close association with Phillip Jackson, Arborist — worked with the community, City staff and Aldermen to: document the values of a well developed street tree network; evaluate the condition of the City’s street tree stock; champion a vision of Hobart as a city of tree-lined streets; and establish policies to guide decision makers. The study was grounded in an audit of the 305km of streets recording opportunities for tree planting and an analysis of the City’s data base of its street tree stock.

The five-year implementation program has given the City an ambitious direction for investment and improvements to move to a time when street trees make a meaningful contribution to the image and liveability of Hobart.

Recognition

2019 Award for Research, Policy and Communications, Australian Institute of Landscape Architects (Tasmania).