Urban greening in the dry tropics: towards and urban forest strategy and master plan for Townsville
Version 2 2024-06-18, 10:20Version 2 2024-06-18, 10:20
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conference contribution
posted on 2024-06-18, 10:20authored byK Stallard, DS Jones
As a dry tropical city in north-eastern Australian, the City of Townsville has yet to embark upon envisaging and proposing an urban forest or urban greening or ecological strategy. Historically much of the green
infrastructure for Townsville derives from colonial and the 1950s-1960s periods, and informed by City Beautiful aesthetic principles and fashions resulting in a typical Australian tropical city Gardenesque aesthetic
that had little concern for shade, urban and pedestrian cooling, urban ecology theory and practice, and food production. Instead, a Gardenesque aesthetic of practicality, species choice limited by local suppliers, limited
knowledge for and research about street trees and urban parks in Australia’s dry tropical zones, and ease of maintenance were determining factors for both species and planting design strategies. In most dry tropical cities in Australia, including Broome, Townsville and Darwin, this was and has been a traditional strategy, and goes little towards addressing climate change resilience and urban greening for cooling, nor mediating and capturing heat and natural ventilation patterns. Further, it is clear in the current discourses that very little debate has occurred in Australia’s dry tropical zone compared to the temperate and Mediterranean zones of southeastern, southern and south-western Australia driven by population concentrations. Using Townsville as a case study, this paper reviews the ecological and historical context of key dry tropical Australian cities, critiques current municipal initiatives and policies towards realising relevant urban greening strategies as distinct from street tree policies, discusses relevant dry tropical zone variables that impact upon urban greening for cities in this zone, examines the core sustainability and resilience risks and opportunities facing Townsville, and proposes an urban greening strategy for Townsville.
History
Pagination
1-9
Location
Melbourne, Vic
Start date
2017-07-12
End date
2017-07-14
Language
eng
Publication classification
E Conference publication, E1 Full written paper - refereed