Environmental Impact Assessment: The importance of throwing shade Trees and parks benefit the mental health of city dwellers, yet Taiwan’s large cities aren’t doing enough to ensure that they are cared for properly and everyone has access to them By Steven Crook / Contributing reporter It’s official: Trees are good for the mental health of city dwellers. According to a study published in Scientific Reports at the end of last year, individuals living within 100m of a high density of street trees in Leipzig, Germany, were prescribed antidepressant prescriptions at a lower rate than those who didn’t have many trees in their neighborhood.