![]() If anyone says they’re going to solve all your environmental problems, then they won’t,” he added. “Also, rooftop gardens are only going to be part of the solution for cities. “Unless there’s a density of green rooftops, say one every kilometre, then there’s not going to be much effect ,” said Dusty Gedge, president of the European Federation of Green Roof Associations. Image credit: University of Greenwich, UK But there’s a catch - or, rather, there are lots of catches. Green roofs can improve a building’s energy efficiency, lessen the urban heat island effect that raises a city’s temperature, and help prevent flooding by absorbing stormwater.Īll this seems to make urban greening a no-brainer, and architects around the world are churning out elaborate designs for new buildings with green roofs from Shanghai to Seattle. Numerous studies have shown that rooftop gardens filled with local, climate-appropriate plants - like the flowering and succulent Sedum, for example - have a net positive effect on dense, urban environments. They can even be used as sustainable urban farms, with knock-on effects for fighting climate change (and traffic) across a wider region by reducing the amount of food that needs to be shipped in from outside the city. Sticking plants on roofs seems to make sense, for the same reason that having parks in cities does - the plants help the city breathe, cleaning the air while at the same time offering a place of peace and relaxation for residents. New rules introduced in October 2015 also mandate that at least 50% of the roof area of all new buildings must be covered in plants. By 2020, two million square metres of greenery will likely be added to the roofs and walls of Shanghai’s buildings. ![]() Shanghai plans to plant 400,000 square meters of rooftop gardens in 2016 alone, an area roughly the size of Vatican City. It’s clear that Shanghai has some serious environmental problems - and one possible solution, which the city is embracing on a massive scale, is “urban greening”. Pudong, Shanghai. Image credit: Gonzalo Pineda Zuniga ![]() ![]() Yet this imposing, hyper-modern vista hides the kinds of common, serious environmental problems that come with rapidly building a city from scratch in a short space of time.Įvery year, seasonal tropical storms ravish the city, high temperatures hit life-threatening levels, and the few public green spaces available become uncomfortably jam-packed with locals. Now the shining columnar skyline includes the second tallest building in the world, the Shanghai Tower, which was finished this year. Twenty-five years ago, this floodplain was dotted with farmers’ homes, cropland, old docks, and factory warehouses. The view across the Huangpu River, looking over to the newly developed area of Pudong from the old quarters of Shanghai, is impressive. ![]()
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