[berikv]

Why wouldn’t you just plant some trees. You don’t need any fancy pavement if it is below a tree.. European cities are filled with trees to cool the streets below them. Obviously, you’d need smaller streets that fit pedestrians and bicycles instead of massive urban highways for trees to be effective.

[elric]

> European cities are filled with trees

Bit of an overly broad generalization. Some European cities, sure. But many are desolate and devoid of trees. Many old cities have very narrow streets, which aren't great for trees. A few shrubs, maybe. Wider strees in Belgian cities are generally devoid of trees, because parking spaces are apparently more important -- and we wouldn't want to impede the view of shops and billboards! Whenever urban trees are cut down, there's a bit of protest, but nevertheless it just keeps happening :-(

[skocznymroczny]

In Poland, there is a trend (referred to as "betonoza") to replace city squares which had trees with concrete squares devoid of any vegetation. There are several reasons for that. Main reason seems that it's easier to get government/EU money for such 'renovation'. Second reason is that it's considered more prestigious to have a concrete square, because that's what other famous cities have.

[elric]

My city recently renovated a huge square, got rid of all the trees and shrubs and plants, and turned the whole thing into a giant concrete wasteland. The mayor was quoted as saying that "not every square needs trees" ... It's mind boggling.

[berikv]

Turns out your right, the story is much more balanced. This page has data on tree cover per capita, and it isn’t Europe on top US on the bottom : https://datadrivenlab.org/urban/issue-profiles/urban-tree-co...

[barsonme]

US cities have trees, too. One downside, though, is the roots can grow and break up the sidewalk. There are some sidewalks in Seattle that are completely inaccessible to wheelchairs or even folks with walkers.

[elric]

If roots were the biggest obstacle for wheelchair use, I'm sure many a wheelchair user would rejoice. I doubt that's anywhere near the case. Cars parking on the pavement, silly delivery robots, shops with oversized signs, all kinds of rubbish, inaccessibly high kerbs, are likely bigger issues.

[hisyam]

You can plant trees that doesn't have pavement-breaking roots.