SpringTX Posted October 7, 2006 Share Posted October 7, 2006 Research by Frances Kuo, published in National Geographic, shows that communities with trees and green space have less crime, less domestic violence, more sociable neighbors, better memory retention on childrens' tests, and all sorts of other unexpected benefits.This supports the suspicion, and the dream of George Mitchell, that people living in The Woodlands are happier and healthier.Check out this link for more information on the research of Frances Kuo:http://www.lpb.org/programs/forest/chicago.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PureAuteur Posted October 9, 2006 Share Posted October 9, 2006 I agree completely. Maybe they researched this stuff in the 70s when they designed the Woodlands. I wonder if there is a correlation between safe/friendly and the extent to which you are immersed in trees or if it's between safe/friendly and trees vs. no trees. Some areas inside the 610 loop on the west side and nw corner of the loop have lots of trees, but not immersed in them, because it's an urban setting. I think the combination of urban and nature is the best for creating safe and friendly communities. Once the Woodlands gets more urban, it will be like living inside the loop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpringTX Posted October 11, 2006 Author Share Posted October 11, 2006 This supports the anecdotal evidence discussed on this forum about how people living in The Woodlands are so much more calm and friendly, and how things seem so relatively crime-free here. It may be tempting to say that's just hometown pride, or marketing brainwashing, or merely an effect of the socioeconomic level, but I disagree, especially now that I see studies like this. My wife says that she notices that people seem to litter less often here. I swear that I think people drive more courteously here. Visitors to The Woodlands tell us that people here seem to so relaxed and friendly that it's odd. Some may say it's Prozac in the water supply, but I think there's something to Kuo's theory about all the trees calming people down and making them more well-adjusted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pineda Posted October 11, 2006 Share Posted October 11, 2006 I swear that I think people drive more courteously here. Maybe all the rest of that rhetoric works for you, but on this issue, I'm going to have to disagree with you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bachanon Posted October 11, 2006 Share Posted October 11, 2006 you gotta watch out for the "ladies who lunch" crowd. you know the ones, they get all spiffed up after hubby leaves, leave marching orders for the maid and yard crew and head out to lunch with the ladies. they only hesitate at stop signs. i mean, "certainly you wouldn't run in to my hundred thousand dollar car" would you? most people are courteous. however, some of the teens and the high maintenance ladies can be quite rude. maybe the tree theory doesn't work for them because they can't see the forest for the trees. personally, when i'm stressed, and have been away from the woodlands for several hours, i feel calmed when the strip centers and phone poles give way to forested buffers on both sides. my peripheral vision is engulfed with forest. the most annoying thing i encounter is a loud stereo or an impatient driver. for me, it is noticeably calming. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest danax Posted October 11, 2006 Share Posted October 11, 2006 It probably works both ways; trees calm people and calm people like places with trees so they move there.The reverse seems true too; a neighborhood with lots of stumps in front of houses and horribly pruned trees is usually trashy, ugly, and has an agitated vibration. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Marty Posted October 11, 2006 Share Posted October 11, 2006 I love trees you can call me a tree hugging Republican. I would never live in a desert or beach like setting. Trees are very therapeutic. Long live the trees. Bye the way i can identify 98% of the trees that grows in southeast Texas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KatieDidIt Posted October 11, 2006 Share Posted October 11, 2006 Marty can you kick the people out behind us and move in? They removed every tree, installed a pool and put in palms. The Woodlands only required that they put in two 5 gallon trees of native species back............... We planted 15, 100 gallon trees along the back fence lines when we moved in, unfortunately most are decidious. We actually thought whomever bought the house behind us would put in a few more to go along with the existing pines and oaks in that backyard.............. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bachanon Posted October 11, 2006 Share Posted October 11, 2006 i feel for you katie. i have new neighbors behind me. our homes back up to woodlands parkway. you can barely see it for the thick forest buffer. unfortunately, they removed two or three truck loads of small trees and underbrush. they removed all of the top layer of soil, leaving a nice sandy backyard for their child or children to play in. what these newbies do not understand is that they increased road noise, reduced runoff absorption and will cause erosion for their own property and the property of others. from my upstairs windows, rather than forest, i now see pink plastic play equipment and ugly lawn furniture on a sandy, sometimes muddy yard. they purchased a 30 year old home in the forest and are upgrading like they are pioneers in a new world. i'm going to LMAO if they try to grow grass under all the remaining pine trees.and the palm trees people are planting........what gives? it's the wood-lands, not palm beach. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KatieDidIt Posted October 11, 2006 Share Posted October 11, 2006 Dunno Bach, but if and when this place becomes incorporated, I hope a HOA is developed, run by the homeowners and a board of trustees, and some sort of "Respect the Fence Line" ordinace is put in place.Currently, I don't think the RDC is doing their job enforcing replacement of a GOOD sized trees and amounts. Other neighborhoods I have lived in have by-laws that you "replace any trees along the existing fence line, that become damaged by construction or improvements, with those of a reasonably comparable size." Also, all play equipment was required to be 15 feet from the fence line so you didn't have to play peek-a-boo with the neighbor's sand-eating three year old.I love my privacy in my own home and backyard, and am so shocked that others don't covet theirs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KinkaidAlum Posted October 12, 2006 Share Posted October 12, 2006 Could be worse, my mom bought an old 1930s house in River Oaks to be closer to her work and church downtown. The place was great and was surrounded on all sides by other homes of the same size and built during the same time period. That was one year ago today. As of last weekend (I just got back from a visit to Houston), the house in the rear of her property had been torn down. The spec home being built ripped out all of the trees in the back yard and is building almost to the property line. The house is a 3 story Spanish tyle house. It takes up the entire backyard! But, that's the better looking house. The house to the West of my mom's was also sold to a developer. He's building a 2 and a half story stucco mcmansion that features a 6,300 square foot main house and a 2,000 square foot garage and servant's quarters. The master bedroom of the main house looks at the garage doors! The side of the house is within 3 feet of the fence that separates my mom's property from theirs. When my mom asked him before he started developing if he would be using brick, the builder stated, "lady, this is Houston. Nobody likes brick." Huh? Did he see the neighborhood at all?My mom was so seriously depressed that she now has two houses literally staring down at her "small" house that she was contemplating moving. Of course, she quickly realized there was nowhere in Houston she could move to to be safe from the spec mcmansion mania... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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