Why would people let a super tree grow?
In my city, a very high skyscraper stands at the center. Somehow, a tree, in a span of [x] years integrates itself into the building. Its branches reach out from the top of the building and its shadow covers a big chunk of the city. At the time the story takes place, the tree's trunk is almost as big as the building itself.
It was such a sight, watching from a distance. But I figure it would be very inconvenient for those living under its shadow.
Why would my city allow such a tree to grow to such a magnitude in such a long time?
To clarify, the world is just like ours with the same kind of technology, except the tree, of course, where nobody understands how it works. The city was modelled after New York.
I imagine the people living under it may complain about the lack of sunlight. Maybe they want to hang laundry out to dry, but there's no direct sunlight. And then some couples may want a bit of romantic fun times under the moonlight on their rooftop. Stuff like that, besides, people complain about everything.
This post was sourced from https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/q/98595. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
1 answer
The melding of the tree and building could be an intentional part of the structure - providing structural support for the building around it.
This has advantages in terms of growth - the building can expand as the tree does.
As others have said if the climate is hot and sunny the tree would provide natural shade for those living/working in the building (depending on what the purpose of the building was), depending on the nature of the tree you could have it storing water in the trunk/branches as well which would provide water to the building occupants.
Also if it's in a densely populated city then the tree would act as a way of oxygenating the air in that area and a kind of vertical "park" as well - city planners often want to include parks and the like for residents but that costs valuable land area which could be used for building on so is very expensive. This super tree would be a very efficient way of meeting that need - like the skyscraper version of a park.
0 comment threads