In a narrow lane in Koukaki, an old neighborhood in central Athens, a large plane tree rises past the upper floors of surrounding apartment blocks – a rare and striking sight in a city that has lost countless trees to neglect, hostility and unchecked development. The tree, on Tousa Botsari Street between Dimitrakopoulou and Veikou, appears well-tended and healthy, an anomaly in a capital where citizens and authorities have long failed their urban forest. Athens bucks the European trend of reclaiming hard surfaces for green planting, even as it endures fierce summer heat waves and declining quality of life. Ancient figs, pines, mulberries and palms have vanished from the city’s major boulevards and hidden gardens over the decades – felled by age, demolition or indifference. One fig on Drosopoulou Street was cut down last year, though it has since sprouted anew. In Athens, the survival of a single tree is cause for both wonder and worry. [Nikos Vatopoulos]