Newsletter
February 2023

Image Credit: Google Maps
 
Why Don’t City Buildings Have More Green Roofs?

According to the Climate Reality Project, in 2022 extreme weather exacerbated by climate change resulted in more than $165 BILLION in damages in the US alone. We all know that green roofs offer a wide range of benefits, including reducing urban heat island effects, improving air quality, and providing habitat for wildlife – not to mention all of the other environmental and economic advantages. Despite these, many city buildings do not (yet) have green roofs. We have work to do and believe that partnerships are the key.

Certain cities and our living architecture community continue to lead the way in promoting, educating, and building living roofs across the world. Case in point: the wonderful 2.5 acre The Perch at Capital One Center, our current Featured Project. Capital One worked closely with the Fairfax County Park Authority to allocate half of its park to be open to the public. Kudos to Capital One for their corporate ecological design commitment and to Columbia Green Technologies for establishing a beautiful skypark constructed of sustainable materials.

During National Black History Month, the White House states, “We celebrate the legacy of Black Americans whose power to lead, to overcome, and to expand the meaning and practice of American democracy has helped our Nation become a more fair and just society." We know that our poorer, underserved urban communities are more likely to suffer from health issues relative to the heat, lack of fresh local produce, air and water quality, among other factors. The Biden-Harris Administration is working to address centuries of neglected infrastructure in Black American communities as well as many other underprivileged areas. We hope that green roofs on sustainably built low-income housing are part of the plan!

In honor of National Black History Month, we would like to spotlight three particularly active Black innovators and designers: The Ghanaian-British architect Sir David Adjaye, lead designer for the National Museum of African American History and Culture, and two US-based non-profits. Adjaye Associates “strives for an architecture that enriches daily life and meets the diverse needs of the communities we serve from the intimate to the expansive." The Black Landscape Architects Network (BlackLAN) supports Black landscape architecture students and professionals, and the Chicago-based Blacks in Green, who serve as a bridge and catalyst among communities and their stakeholders in the design and development of green, self-sustaining, mixed-income, walkable villages in communities owned and populated by African Americans.

Finally, have you registered for the Green Roofs for Healthy Cities’ Blue-Green Symposium tomorrow from 12-5 EST? You’ll hear from experts at LiveRoof, Columbia Green Technologies, Next Level Stormwater Management, and Wavin North America. Learn how to plan and design efficient blue-green systems to mitigate the effects of urbanization and the economic justifications to invest in blue-green technologies.