Dense, high buildings limit the space available for urban greenery. But imaginative projects that involve the community can ensure nature and the city go hand in hand.
Green rooftops give a backyard feel to smaller housing units in Sydney
Author Provided
Research shows if Australia encourages greenery on buildings, it will reduce temperatures in the city, as well as potential for flash flooding. It also creates new habitats and socialising spaces.
Dagmar Haase, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research-UFZ
In the future, Europe will suffer from more heat waves as well as extreme rainfall, presenting new challenges for planners and health care services. Building resilient cities can help.
Aerial view of the Sydney Football Stadium, which is to be rebuilt, and Sydney Cricket Ground. Questions of stadium design to deal with extreme heat are becoming more urgent.
AAP
The Australian Open tennis and the recent Ashes Test cricket series show why our sporting stadiums need to be “climate-proofed” to deal with extreme heat.
The potential clean energy sources are all around Sydney, just waiting to be harnessed.
Collage by Rocco Furfaro
Sun, wind, waste biomass, geothermal, tides and waves: all these energy sources in Sydney’s backyard add up to a zero-carbon energy solution for the city.
Bees living in cities often have to seek out green space like parks, ravines and gardens. Green roofs could offer them some habitat.
(Shutterstock)
Urban bees deal with what’s known as “habitat patches,” discontinuous patches of green like gardens, parks and ravines. Green roofs could offer relief to bees dealing with habitat fragmentation.
The Acros Fukuoka eco-building in Fukuoka, Japan boasts one of the world’s most famous green roofs. The GRIT Lab at the University of Toronto is working to bring green roofs to the city and beyond in order to combat climate change.
(Shutterstock)
Green roofs could play a critical role in helping cities cope with extreme rainfall events in the age of climate change. The roofs essentially suck up stormwater like sponges if designed properly.
Plants and trees cool themselves and the surrounding environment like this building in Paris, France.
Shutterstock
Greening cities have a huge impact. The trees go beyond just lowering temperatures. They help decrease the demand for indoor cooling like air-conditioners saving money.
A public worker clears a storm drain in Carson City, Nevada.
Cathleen Allison/AP Photo
The US wants to invest in more infrastructure to handle our rainfall and melted snow. Stormwater credits could help cut costs and protect the environment.
The health benefits of being close to nature are well established.
priscilla du preez/Unsplash
Health benefits of being close to nature are well established, but the rise of apartment living means we can’t always be close to greenery.
Climate crusaders: President Macron, right, with Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo and former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg after a June 2 meeting at the Elysee Palace, following the US withdrawal from the Paris agreement.
Christophe Petit Tesson/Reuters
Sara Wilkinson, University of Technology Sydney and Fiona Orr, University of Technology Sydney
In a world of increasing urbanisation, density, pressure and, some say, isolation, there’s a natural salve for stress, pressure and mental illness. And it’s right above our heads.
Reflective roof and skylights on a Walmart store, Las Vegas, NV.
Walmart/Flickr
Green and cool (reflective) roofs are effective tools for cooling overheated cities. Research in Chicago shows that their impacts depend on local conditions, so planners should site them carefully.
The EVA Lanxmeer development in the Netherlands provides a model for how to incorporate green infrastructure in all aspects of the planning process.
Tony Matthews
Green infrastructure can be delivered relatively easily using existing planning processes. The main obstacle could be psychological: planners are wary of disruption to embedded practices.
The shimmer of a heat mirage shows how a hard road surface increases urban temperatures by radiating heat into the air.
Wikimedia Commons/Brocken Inaglory
It seems like a ‘no brainer’ to use urban greening to help cities adapt to increasing heat, but the uptake of green infrastructure, such as trees and vegetated roofs, surfaces and walls, is slow. Why?
Trees take more planning than you might think.
Parkes/Wikimedia Commons
Planting more trees in our cities is a good idea, but we need to remember to plan ahead for conditions those trees might encounter when they mature in half a century’s time.
Rainwater + hard urban surfaces = lots of runoff.
KOMUnews
Built-up urban environments transform the resource of rainwater into wasted runoff. Low Impact Development mimics nature to help get stormwater into the natural water system.