ABOUT THE BOOK

The majestic trees of Seattle’s neighborhoods take center stage in this illustrated and informative walking guide.

• Want to discover which neighborhood has the highest concentration of cherry street trees when cherry blossoms are at their peak?
• Eager to stroll down the only street lined with western red cedars?
• Curious how monkey puzzle trees made their way to the city?

Seattle is one of the most visited U.S. cities and its unique neighborhoods are a common tourist attraction. There’s a very unique aspect to this bustling city’s nature and trees. 

Using data visualization, the author takes readers on a tour of street trees throughout Seattle’s neighborhoods and iconic parks through charming illustrations and maps. Taha educates readers on the history of the trees and the city, and offers up sketches of trees, leaves, and leaflets to identify trees throughout 33 neighborhoods. The most notable of each species are highlighted, so urban adventurers can fully appreciate their surroundings or design their own walking routes to experience these natural wonders in their favorite areas of the city.

In an increasingly digital world, the book invites readers to slow down and embrace an analog approach to tree-spotting during their urban meanderings.

Additionally, Recognizing our urban forests as public infrastructure can help increase our resilience to worsening heat waves which are currently the leading cause of weather-related deaths. Mature tree canopy in a city center reduces air temperatures up to 10 degrees Fahrenheit, and just one single large tree can provide a day’s supply of oxygen for up to four people. Street Trees of Seattle encourages people to take one of the most radical actions possible today: using all one’s senses to be present locally in the urban forest we might otherwise take for granted.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Taha Ebrahimi is director of Tableau Public, a free platform to explore, create and publicly share online data visualizations about publicly available data. She is also a “celebrity” judge of Iron Viz, the world’s largest virtual data visualization competition. She is passionate about the storytelling power of data visualization to democratize the understanding of complex data insights. Taha is also the co-chair of the Cal Anderson Park Alliance and a contributor to Crosscut where she writes about things like local mapmaking. She began her career as a journalist at The Seattle Times, has taught writing at the University of Pittsburgh, and has been a recipient of fellowships granted by The Thomas J. Watson Foundation (IBM) and the Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation.