Opinions and Responses

About Pruning Street Trees

In Inagi City, street trees are pruned several times a year, but in recent years, it seems that the pruning has been somewhat too severe.
According to the city's website, street trees are being removed due to root upheaval, and I imagine that the severe pruning is a temporary measure in preparation for their eventual removal.
Safety is important, but on the other hand, without enough street trees, it is difficult to endure the summer heat. Due to the effects of heavy pruning, the shade is gradually shrinking, and as the summers become increasingly hot year by year, it seems to be going against the times.
There are proposals to plant shrubs or to change the road surface to materials that dissipate heat more easily, but shrubs cannot create shade, and even if the road surface is changed, it might be like a drop in the bucket.
I have heard that in overseas countries, street trees are effectively utilized as the city's air conditioning.
Does Inagi City have a plan for creating shade and implementing measures against heat?

Response

Regarding the management of street trees, we regularly prune over 7,000 street trees within the city to ensure that pedestrian and vehicle traffic is not obstructed. Every year, to carry out effective pruning within a limited budget, pruning for each route is done once every few years, so we perform stronger pruning timed with the general pruning season for deciduous tall trees across all street trees in the city.
Street trees play an important role from the perspectives of scenery, environment, traffic safety, and disaster prevention, and are also valuable assets for the citizens. Therefore, we believe it is necessary to continuously maintain and manage them. However, we also consider it important to ensure the safety of pedestrians and vehicles using the roads and to protect the lives of residents along the roads.
We will continue to strive for the proper maintenance and management of plantings.

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