Reduced noise exposure

Since 2012, the Municipality of Ipoh continued the revitalization and rehabilitation of the D.R. Seenivasagam Recreational Park (TDRS) under the Malaysian National Urbanisation Policy, which suggests that for every 1,000 inhabitants, there should be public green open spaces of 2 ha. Through this intervention, the Ipoh municipality tried to address several sustainability challenges, which are usually a result of the lack of green open spaces. Some of the challenges addressed were the urban heat island effect, soil erosion resulting from improper drainage, and noise pollution. Ultimately, the municipality aimed to provide a convenient setting for a variety of leisure and recreational activities in addition to enhancing the civic values of the community. The intervention consisted of several tree-planting actions organized by the Ipoh Council in collaboration with the Perak Government (a Malaysian state that has its capital in Ipoh).
D.R. Seenivasagam Recreational Park was built in the 1950s and is one of the largest urban parks in Ipoh. It has become a favourite among locals as well as an example of good practice for integrating green open spaces in addressing sustainability challenges over the years. Located in the vicinity of the Kinta River, during the early days of its opening, it was a mini botanical garden which eventually transitioned to a full-scale park, one of not too many in Ipoh. The park also includes a lake with wooden bridges that contributes to the diversity and habitat of the place. The DR Park, as it is known to the locals, has entertained many families for more than 25 years, starting as a mini-theme park during its formative years, much to the delight of many children. To date, the park has remained a popular spot with abundant greenery and attractions, an oasis within Ipoh’s city life. (1,2,3,4)

Asia is one of the fastest economic growing regions and so are many cities on the Asian continent. Economic growth brings forward many challenges including intensive urban development, loss of natural features, increased urbanization, and high levels of air pollution, just to name a few. One of these cities is Ho Chi Minh where it was assessed that only 0,25% of its area is covered with vegetation, and in addition to this, there is traffic congestion and air pollution (3).
In an effort to rectify some of these transgressions, a private initiative developed a house called the House of Trees, located in Tan Binh district, one of the most densely populated residential areas in Ho Chi Minh City, where many small houses are crowded together (2).
The green features of the house include five roofs that function as gardens thanks to a layer of earth substratum, from which tall tropical trees grow (3). The aim of the project is to bring green space back into the city, accommodating high-density dwellings with big tropical trees. Five concrete boxes are designed as "pots" to plant trees on their tops. With a thick soil layer, these pots also function as storm-water basins for detention and retention, hence contributing to reducing the risk of flooding in the city. The project has been conducted by Vo Trong Nghia Architects, a leading Vietnamese firm in building green architecture in urban Vietnam. (1)

The roof garden is one of the most distinguishing features of JEG Tower @ One Acacia, a 22-storey commercial tower in Cebu City. [1] Featuring the purely endemic flora of Cebu, the roof garden offers a dedicated green space in the middle of the cityscape to tenants and visitors of the buildings. The project was created to contribute to the preservation of Cebu's Biodiversity, combat air pollution and improve the mental and physical well-being of residents and visitors. [1] It also includes an events space that people or companies could hire [4].

To build "[a] airport in the forest, and [a] forest in the airport", a Jungle Broadwalk was created inside the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) between 2004 and 2009. KLIA is one of the world's largest airport sites, spanning over 100 square kilometres of land, and it is located in the Malaysian state of Selangor. The Jungle Boardwalk is a miniature tropical rainforest, recreated inside the airport grounds between the main terminal building and the contact pier, and in the central garden in the centre of each satellite building. Though the airport is functioning since 1998, the Jungle Boardwalk was implemented only in 2004 and is home to 3,660 trees of more than 39 species, serving almost 14 mils. passengers every year. The mini forest is home to an impressive variety of trees such as the Medang, Kelat, Tukas and Penaga lilin trees that are indigenous to Malaysia.
The intervention provides many benefits such as a cooling temperature level inside the airport, a space for passengers to decompress, and an exploration of the relationship between nature and humans. This project creates a miniature Indonesian rainforest inside the airport to keep alive the heritage of the country's nature. The implementer had in mind "the vision to share a piece of Mother Nature’s tropical heritage with our passengers through the refreshing experience of walking through our natural forest reserve.” This and the fact that the airport is Green Globe Certified makes the intervention unique. (1,2,3,4)

In 2019, in the city of Ulan-Ude, the most comprehensive and large-scale action "Green City" was launched [2,3,4,5,12], with the goal of creating an efficient and sustainable greening system in Ulan-Ude [1,7]. Nowadays, according to the city's norms, there are two times fewer green spaces per resident than is customary [7]. According to this program, by 2024, the provision of the population with public green spaces should be 10 sq. m per person [1,8]. Within the framework of the project, effective technologies for greening are already being introduced, and all green spaces growing in the city are being monitored [3,5,6]. Planting of green spaces is carried out under the guidance of the Scientific and Technical Council for the Integrated Greening of the City, which includes Buryat scientists and specialists from the City Administration [2].

The 'Step Garden' is a 14-tier green roof atop the Asian Cross Roads Over the Sea (ACROS) Fukuoka Prefectural International Hall in Fukuoka, Japan (Ref. 2). The Hall itself is a centre of international, cultural and information exchange, and sits amidst the Tenjin Central Park (Ref. 3). As the building displaced a plaza, the architect, Emilio Ambasz, created the “image of a mountain" through the design and installation of the roof terrace (Ref. 2), "want[ing] to give back to Fukuoka’s citizens all the land the building would subtract from the city" (Ref. 3). In combination with the Central Park, the rooftop garden is considered to be the only open green space in the city centre (Ref. 4), and since its inauguration in 1995, has been open to the public, accessible via two entrances on the park side of the building (Ref. 1).

The City of Melbourne, through its Urban Forest Strategy, has a comprehensive plan for greening major streets and precincts, but not the smaller laneways. Across the municipality, laneways occupy a ground area of 60 hectares, with a further 150 hectares of space on the walls in these laneways (3). "The City of Melbourne has established the GYL program in 2016 with the vision to help transform the city’s smaller laneways into leafy, green and better usable spaces for the residents and other visitors to enjoy while addressing the city’s sustainability challenges." (1 p27). So far, a pilot project has been carried our including the transformation of 4 laneways: Coromandel Place, Guildford Lane, Meyers Place and Katherine Place (1,3). The intervention included an intensive planning process with the involvement of stakeholders from the private and public sectors and the creation of an interactive map of laneways ideal for greening. (1,2). The GYL program aims to address the issues of urban heat islands, climate change impacts of flood mitigation while also improving local aesthetics, amenity and creating opportunities for recreation (1).

In 2014 a counselling office of the NGO Green City was established, entitled The Greening Office (Begrünungsbüro), with the objective of better engaging citizens in green adaptation measures, such as green roofs, green façades, green walls or green courtyards (Reference 1, 5). Financed by the City’s Department of Health and Environment, the project addresses climate change adaptation through greening private properties, achieved through counselling citizens and companies, with diverse outreach and networking activities. The NBS recognised the potential of the many unused private spaces, such as south-facing facades and flat roofs to better adapt to climate change across the entire city (Reference 1).

Sihlcity, one of Switzerland's largest shopping malls, is located in the Wiedikon district of Zurich. It was built on the grounds of a former paper mill, Papierfabrik Sihl, near the Sihl River. The Green Wall of the Sihlcity car park is a striking feature of the development at a height of 23 meters and a width of 25.5 meters. The wall is an elegant aesthetic solution to the car park facade, keeps the car park cool during summer, provides insulation in the winter, sound insulation for the busy car park, and an effective deterrent to graffiti. [1]

The Tree Strategy is a municipal action plan in progress, aiming to address some of the main sustainability challenges described in the Environmental Program of Malmö City. Its main relations to sustainability challenges include improved health and well-being, decrease differences in those among different social groups and increase biodiversity. The Strategy includes a range of possibilities for evaluating its ecological and social success (ref. 1).