Words by Smiley Team
An app that logs more than 700,000 of London's trees is encouraging citizens to embrace urban nature.
TreeTalk, designed by Revolution Consultancy & Design, uses data from the Greater London Authority, who plant and manage trees along London's busiest main roads.
The most common trees in TreeTalk's dataset are London Planes (Platanus x hispanica), Cherry (Prunus), Lime (Tilia), Ash (Fraxinus excelsior) and Sycamore trees (Acer pseudoplatanus).
Currently, the tree of the month is the tall and slender Italian Alders (Alnus cordata), which come into their own in December, as they're one of the few deciduous trees to keep their leaves right through the month. They’re still green too, and won't entirely disappear until the striking male catkins appear in February.
And there couldn’t be a better time to explore this new app, as a study from Imperial College London has found that living near woodland is good for your mental health.
(Read more about how to find an eco-friendly Christmas tree)
TreeTalk isn't just a map – if you live in and around London, you can create personalised trails to check in on trees in your local neighbourhood.
It's estimated that there are more than eight million trees in London – almost one tree for every Londoner. Beyond the streets and parks, London's trees can be found in its private gardens, which cover around 23% of London and in its woodlands.
TreeTalk is inspired by and supports both the London National Park City movement and The Charter for Trees, Woods and People. The app has proven popular in other areas of the UK, and its creators hope it will be part of a broader transition towards a greener future.
(Read more about The Woodland Trust’s Big Climate Fightback)
The app was created without any funding, and is the culmination of many 100s of hours of hard work. Any donations made will contribute to the on-going growth of the project. You can make a donation on TreeTalk's website.
To take a look at TreeTalk’s map of London’s trees and see what’s growing on the streets and in the parks from Barnet to Croydon, and Bexley to Hounslow, visit TreeTalk.
