Charlottesville’s Downtown Mall is the centerpiece of the city’s social and economic life. The eight-block pedestrian Mall was designed by the renowned landscape architecture firm Lawrence Halprin & Associates in 1976. Central to Halprin’s design are bosques of willow oaks that alternate along the Mall’s central axis, creating a sequence of landscape rooms and a meandering walk.

Over the last 50 years, the structure, shade, and sense of enclosure the trees provide have been directly correlated with the Mall’s increased activity and commercial success. Faced with declining canopy, and an increase in urban heat and adjacent vacancies where removals have occurred, the city commissioned a study to precede a plan for replacing the trees.

Wolf Josey led a comprehensive planning process that went beyond the mandate of the tree study to examine the trees individually and as an inseparable part of the historic landscape. With all inquiry rooted in a thorough reading of the historic landscape, the plan studies how maintenance practices, accessibility requirements, and current uses have impacted the integrity of Halprin’s landscape. By developing hybrid methods for studying the tree’s ecological health, experiential qualities, and social meaning, the landscape architect developed a plan that addresses contemporary challenges within the language and spirit of the Halprin design.