I recently visited Cira Green, a park in Philadelphia that's located on top of a parking garage, about 100' off the ground. The park features numerous garden beds and native trees. There are a number of challenges that come with planting trees on elevated surfaces including soil volume and mixture, wind, and a dynamic load. However, when done correctly, these green roofs can offer numerous benefits including wildlife food and habitat, storm water control, and providing the public with a nice public place to visit.
More info:
https://ciragreen.com/
https://developingresilience.uli.org/case/cira-green/
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Probably doesn’t make sense for standard residential buildings but for these tall buildings that are highly engineered, does it really increase the costs by that much? Trees offer a large increase in benefits over other types of vegetation due to the shade and many times greater biomass.
That said, simpler green roofs should also be more widely used in cases where trees are too heavy or expensive. And vines and green walls too. I want to see the concrete jungle become an actual jungle!
That huge below surface cistern and the efforts to anchor the trees against wind would seem to add significantly to the cost over artificial shading structures with ranking plants for example.
I suppose it would depend on the costs and benefits which I haven’t seen quantified. But in general those things don’t provide anywhere near the benefits trees do.
Probably doesn’t make sense for standard residential buildings but for these tall buildings that are highly engineered, does it really increase the costs by that much? Trees offer a large increase in benefits over other types of vegetation due to the shade and many times greater biomass.
That said, simpler green roofs should also be more widely used in cases where trees are too heavy or expensive. And vines and green walls too. I want to see the concrete jungle become an actual jungle!
That huge below surface cistern and the efforts to anchor the trees against wind would seem to add significantly to the cost over artificial shading structures with ranking plants for example.
I suppose it would depend on the costs and benefits which I haven’t seen quantified. But in general those things don’t provide anywhere near the benefits trees do.