28 CityTREES
At some undefined time that I've not been able
to establish, palm trees became fashionable and began to
be planted abundantly in our Chilean cities. As a way of
"tropicalizing" the urban landscape, various exotic species
of palms began to appear in long rows, saturating streets
and avenues with their characteristic shape and enjoying
the unquestioned approval of authorities and citizens.
Unfortunately, this phenomenon has not taken into account
the opinion of those who must maintain the palms. In my
opinion, palm trees occupy a deserved place in the land-
scape as living elements that stand out precisely because of
their architectural uniqueness. At the same time, if palms are
used in places where large shade trees could be, this impov-
erishes our cities in terms of valuable ecosystem services.
