Urban Green Roof

Creating low maintenance terrestrial naturalistic green spaces in the urban core is not popular.

Urban green roof.

Green roofs are covered with growing media and vegetation that enable rainfall infiltration and evapotranspiration of stored water. Green roofs can provide both visually and physically accessible green space. Studies have documented that invertebrate communities can live on a variety of green roofs in several countries. One of the additional benefits of urban green roofs for agriculture is that they inevitably enhance urban biodiversity.

During summer the temperatures in cities are approximately 5 7 c higher than in the countryside due to buildings and roads heat absorption and the temperature on the traditional roof can be up to 40 c higher compared to the green roof. On a wider scale green roofs improve air quality and help reduce the urban heat island effect a condition in which city and suburban developments absorb and trap heat. Anyone who has walked across a scalding parking lot on a hot summer day has felt one effect of an urban heat island. They are particularly cost effective in dense urban areas where land values are high and on large industrial or office buildings where stormwater management costs are likely to be high.

Green roofs may provide one solution. Green roofs are one of the most effective ways to reduce the ambient air temperature in urban areas.