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Street trees are components of the urban forest that receive considerable attention across academic and professional disciplines. They are also one of the most common types of urban tree that people routinely encounter. A systematic review methodology was used to examine contemporary urban street tree research across natural and social science disciplines. The records collected (n = 429) were published between January 1997 and the mid-2020s and were coded for descriptive information (e.g., publishing journal and geography of study areas) as well as emergent focal research areas (e.g., ecosystem services, economic valuation, and inventory methods). From this sample, there has been considerable growth in street tree literature over time and across research themes, especially following major turning points in the field of urban forestry. Regulating ecosystem functions/services of street trees, especially cooling, has had the greatest attention in the literature, but other robust areas of research also exist, including the utility of pruning waste as construction materials, the benefits and disservices to human health and safety, and indicators of environmental (in)justice. Opportunities for future research and implications for research and practice are also discussed.

Multimodal Complete Streets have emerged as a prominent aspiration of urban planning to ensure safe access for all users of streets including pedestrians, bicyclists, motorists, and transit users. Concurrently, municipal leaders are pursuing ambitious tree planting initiatives. These co-arising trends are potentially good news, as trees are important elements of livable cities and Complete Streets. Yet, street trees may have different health and safety benefits and disbenefits for various circulation modes. To advance a multimodal approach to research and practice, we undertook a systematic literature review with goals to (1) identify the scholarly literature addressing links between street trees, human health, and safety for pedestrians, bicyclists, and vehicle drivers; (2) depict the principal disciplines, themes, and conceptual scope of this research; and (3) discuss the implications for urban planning and design practice and research. This review drew upon 13 scholarly databases and yielded 63 relevant articles spanning 15 countries, of which 49 constituted original research. The systematic analysis covers eight research categories. Findings show exponential growth in related scholarship over the past two decades, especially for pedestrians. Journals oriented toward interdisciplinary planning and public health and safety are leading this rise, and benefits far outweigh disbenefits. Yet, there are multimodal tensions especially as it relates to the role of street trees in relationship to drivers and pedestrians. Implications for research and practice are discussed, with an eye towards governance, design, and equity.

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