A study by UTS shows that suburbs with dense tree canopies have lower concentrations of particulate matter in the air – cleaner air. Tree canopies help with disperse particulate pollution that is responsible for cancers and respiratory diseases, like asthma.
The total tree canopy cover across the City of Sydney local government area is about 15.5%, including 6.6% on private land, 4.9% from street trees and 4.1% in parkland.
Dr Fraser Torpy from UTS said “Grass didn’t have a positive impact on air quality at all: it is trees and canopy density that are the important factors in reducing air pollution and particulates.”
so why on earth do we do this?
Image: Barons Crescent, Daily Telegraph, 2015
some of what we have in Hunters Hill
Image: Lane Cove River and Lovetts Reserve
Read more about suburbs with the cleanest air.
Lucy Cormak’s article about the UTS research on the benefit of trees to air quality is not unknown to our city planners. Despite this, they continue to cram a great mass of new housing for Sydney’s growing population into the corridors formed by Parramatta and Victoria Roads.
These are probably the two worst areas in Sydney for air quality, noise pollution and the risk of death and injury from traffic accidents. When The Department of Planning’s own health reports have confirmed that the impact of living in such places takes years off a person’s life, why on earth do they persist?