I suspect that arboriculturalists have heart palpitations when they arrive in Almaty – one of the features of leafy city is the proximity between the extensive urban tree foliage and the apartment blocks.

In the same way that human have personal, cultural and contextual preferences for personal space – the comfortable distance between themselves and the next person – we also have assumptions about ‘natural space’. Whilst this is typically driven by the need to protect urban infrastructure such as foundations, keep signage clear, maintain a clear view – what other factors comes into play in setting this distance?