With temperatures in Gaziantep still well above 35° C, trees make a quite difference. This is well in line with a recent study of the American University in Washington D.C.

“Just a single tree can make a difference."

According to this study, even a single tree in a street or backyard can make a measurable contribution to cooling. Single trees can especially help to reduce evening heat. Planting single trees can be a strategy to curb urban heat, especially in areas where land for parks may be scarce.

The study found lower temperatures in neighbourhoods where at least half the area was covered by a tree canopy. Temperatures were significantly cooler in the evening than in neighbourhoods with few trees. Even at dawn, neighbourhoods with only moderate tree canopy (about 20 percent of the area) were cooler than those without trees. The cooling effect occurs in the afternoon and evening, well into the night.

“How very remarkable is a dark tree through which the wind passes, when this wind is soft and mild and the great tree stands sharply against the light…"

loosely based on a poem by Robert Gernhardt