A review of benefits and challenges in growing street trees in paved urban environments

• Street trees provide environmental, economic and social benefits to urban communities.
• Urban environments impose stress on street trees.
• Impermeable surfaces create conflicts between street trees and pavements.
• Methods have been tested to increase tree health and reduce pavement damage.
• Pervious paving is a new and promising method to improve tree growth.

Street trees are an integral element of urban life. They provide a vast range of benefits in residential and commercial precincts, and they support healthy communities by providing environmental, economic and social benefits. However, increasing areas of impermeable surface can increase the stresses placed upon urban ecosystems and urban forests. These stresses often lead tree roots to proliferate in sites that provide more-favourable conditions for growth, but where they cause infrastructure damage and pavement uplift. This damage is costly and a variety of preventative measures has been tested to sustain tree health and reduce pavement damage. This review explores a wide range of literature spanning 30 years that demonstrates the benefits provided by street trees, the perceptions of street trees conveyed by urban residents, the costs of pavement damage by tree roots, and some tried and tested measures for preventing pavement damage and improving tree growth.