ROOT CARE – A Botany and Arboriculture Handbook (Nicola Noè)

Trees are the living infrastructure of our cities. However, what happens beneath the surface, in the soil and among the roots, is just as important as what we see above ground.

Root Care is an extract from an upcoming practical handbook that explains how to protect urban trees during excavation and construction work, starting with the most important part: the roots.

Written for park managers, municipal officers, landscape professionals, and anyone involved in urban green space management, the handbook guides readers through the regulations that govern tree protection, the scientific methods used to estimate root zones, and the precautions that make the difference between a tree that survives a construction site and one that does not.

Three real case studies bring the principles to life:
— An underground garage built beneath a historic park near Milan, where careful palisade excavation allowed every tree to be preserved.
— The Milan Street Trees project, which demonstrates how root-centred management leads to healthier, safer, longer-lived urban trees.
— A detailed interference analysis along Corso Sempione, where the ancient rows of London plane trees had to be reconciled with a new cycle path and pedestrian walkway.

Illustrated throughout with photographs, watercolour drawings, and diagrams, ROOT CARE makes complex arboricultural science accessible and actionable — because protecting trees means protecting the cities we live in.

Author: Nicola Noè, Adjunct Professor of Botany and Arboriculture at Politecnico di Milano and Guarantor of Greenery, Soil and Trees for the Municipality of Milan.
Illustrations: Arch. Barbara Gerosa.

Look at it here:

ROOT CARE – A Botany and Arboriculture Handbook – Nicola Noe