Problem
When trees are planted or pruned without regard for the special places they can create, they are as good as dead for the people who need them.
Solution
If you are planting trees, plant them according to their nature, to form enclosures, avenues, squares, groves, and single spreading trees toward the middle of open spaces. And shape the nearby buildings in response to trees, so that the trees themselves, and the trees and buildings together, form places which people can use.
Related Patterns
… trees are precious. Keep them. Leave them intact. If you have followed Site Repair (104), you have already taken care to leave the trees intact and undisturbed by new construction; you may have planted Fruit Trees (170); and you may perhaps also have other additional trees in mind. This pattern reemphasizes the importance of leaving trees intact, and shows you how to plant them, and care for them, and use them, in such a way that the spaces which they form are useful as extensions of the building.
Make the trees form “rooms” and spaces, avenues, and squares, and groves, by placing trellises between the trees, and walks, and seats under the trees themselves - Outdoor Room (163), Trellised Walk (174), Garden Seat (176), Seat Spots (241). One of the nicest ways to make a place beside a tree is to build a low wall, which protects the roots and makes a seat - Sitting Wall (243) …
Alexander, Christopher. A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction. Oxford University Press, 1977, p. 797.