The role of residential tree arrangement: A scoping review of energy efficiency in temperate to subtropical climate zones

A significant shift towards consolidating residential neighbourhoods has dramatically influenced the Australian national urban tree canopy benchmark. Recurrent tree planting, in densely settled residential suburbs, is an insufficient, emerging environmental and long-term energy conservation strategy. A global and Australian original research review, spanning the past two decades, reveals a better understanding of the link between trees and the built environment. This review defines potential tree allocation parameters, in urban energy conservation, within residential landscape constraints. This assessment focuses on regions similar to various Australian temperate to sub–tropical climate zones, defined as Mediterranean climate type by Köppen climate classification. Based on this review, the paper then identifies the importance of residential tree requirements and energy demand credibility projections as an amendment to existing metropolitan guidelines, using Sydney, Adelaide, and Perth in Australia as an example. Currently, Australian residential planning and design codes, and landscaping software action-codes, like iTree canopy software or Tree Planting Predictor Tool, do not consider residential tree arrangement. These parameters unify the building-energy assessment scheme with an optimal residential tree arrangement concept, leading to implementable residential development plans. This optimisation, primarily optimal residential tree arrangement, provides housing designers with ideal tree allocation data to yield the greatest effect. In addition, this optimal residential tree arrangement model will transform how researchers measure future urban canopy cover performance.