Ever notice that tree tops resemble diagrams of the capillaries in our lungs? Lately I’ve spent a lot of time considering tree tops against a naked autumn sky. Perhaps it’s the fact that they really are the lungs of a great smoky city like Istanbul. They’re working their trunks off to provide us with oxygen, shade and a whole bunch of beauty in an increasingly concrete and asphalt landscape, despite the fact we treat them no better than obstacles to a new underpass, overpass or some other ugly piece of infrastructure meant to carry more polluting, carbon-emitting exercises in vanity and wasteful personal expenditure — sorry got into a little rant there … so let me put it another way: ever conceived of an urban paradise that didn’t involve more trees? More green space? Didn’t think so.
This post is dedicated to Nicolas Delsol who has been enduring the conditions in a terribly smog-ridden city in the Far East.