Climate change mitigation

Heeley City Farm came into existence in the middle of 1981 (ref 3). It is a community-based and led training, employment and youth enterprise (ref 1) and a much needed green space in the inner suburban Sheffield with recycling, healthy living facilities, a garden centre, cafe, and charity shop. Heeley City Farm also manages food growing projects across Sheffield. (Ref 3) The Farm addresses poverty, inequality, prejudice and lack of opportunity by supporting community regeneration and self-help within environmentally friendly and self-sustaining systems, using the background of a mini-farm, community gardens and related resources. (Ref1)

Saltersgate Junior School has unveiled its new eco-friendly ‘living wall’ - believed to be the first of its type in a UK school. This was part of a larger refurbishment project. The 98-square metre architectural feature will help insulate the building and use surplus rainwater from the roof to water plants. The Scawsby school’s pupils have been involved in the creation. They will also be looking after it and use it as an educational area for studying different types of plants and insects (Ref 1 & 2)

The aim of the project was to protect and enhance the areas of core nature conservation interest and adopt environmental management principles to help reduce the impact of management operations on the environment. Linn park and Local Nature Reserve (LNR) is the second-largest park in the city. Linn Park comprises a mosaic of riparian woodland along the White Cart corridor principally broadleaf in character, mixed woodland plantation blocks connected by a series of mixed-species shelterbelts, scrub, meadow, amenity grassland, and parkland trees. The woodland provides habitat for a great variety and number of birds both resident and migratory. Some areas of the woodland have good ground flora diversity including the occurrence of Bluebells (Hyacinthoides non-scripta) in patches.
The park is particularly of note for its floristic and bird diversity with some 250 and 60 species recorded respectively. Some animals and plants of interest include Atlantic Salmon (Salmo salar), Otter (Lutra lutra) and Kingfisher (Alcedo atthis) and Great-spotted Woodpecker (Dendrocopos major) and Toothwort (Lathraea squamaria) in the woodlands. It is scarce in Scotland and Linn Park and is one of only 3 sites in Glasgow this species is found (Ref 4). Linn Park and Local Nature Reserve (LNR) was awarded a Green Flag in 2013. The Green Flag Award is the benchmark national standard for quality parks and green spaces (Ref. 3).

The vertical gardens were installed on a property whose two street-facing facades are almost entirely covered with layered greenery. The building is a mini-lung and an example of sustainability for the city, keeping the principles of a living habitat and a relationship with the outside, assuming a revitalizing urban role. Its walls are completely covered with vegetation, creating a vertical garden, with around 4500 plants. (ref.3, 1)The architect who designed the property was originally commissioned to transform an old building but serious structural problems meant the building had to be demolished, and with the chance to start from scratch, considerations for a more radical design began. (1)

Vine Court is a student residential complex located at the heart of the University’s city campus. It is equipped with both green and brown roofs, providing environmentally friendly habitats for local flora and fauna, utilizing local plant mixes and building material rubble from the excavated site. (Reference 2). It is at the forefront of sustainable residential development in the UK higher education sector and it was built to a high standard of sustainable design and energy performance. In addition to the eco-technologies incorporated into the structure, the brickwork includes built-in nest boxes for swifts and bats. It has been awarded a design stage BREEAM Excellent certification (Reference 1).

"Nancy Grand Coeur" is the name of an urban renewal planning project in Nancy, which included several blue and green interventions. This area of Nancy received in 2009 the "EcoQuartier" (Eco-District) French label even though the renewal planning works started later, and are still ongoing. "Completely remodeling this district to make it an engaging "facade", adapted to the lifestyles of the time and to the evolutions of modern town planning (diversity of activities, fluidity of travel, sustainable development ...): that is all aims of the Nancy Grand Coeur operation" (Ref. 3).

This vertical garden was created with the aim to integrate the shopping mall in the surrounding green. A total of 44.000 plants of 200 different species were used on a surface of 1.262 square meters, making it the largest living wall in the world (now in Italy) at the time it was created. The green wall has met large positive response both by the owners of the shopping mall, who noticed a decrease in their energy expenses, and by local residents, who can appreciate the aesthetic beauty of the wall and breathe fresher and cleaner air. (2,3)

The roof of IKEA in Åsane outside Bergen covers 22,000 m2 and has been covered with plants since 2011. (Ref. 1) The green roof promotes biodiversity, cleanses the air from pollutants and acts an important flood prevention measure in the region, as Bergen experiences a lot of rainfall and is expected to receive more as a consequence of climate change over the coming decades. (Ref. 3,5) The roof has attracted a lot of birdlife, including endangered species. (Ref. 2)

A modern office building in Poznan and a headquarter of a large company was designed to include multiple environmentally friendly solutions like cycling facilities, energy-efficient appliances in the building, roof gardens, the use of rainwater in the sanitary facilities, waste segregation system and the overall energy-efficient design of the building façade to let in as much natural light as possible [1].

The green wall was built as a pilot project in cooperation between the national government, the University of Genova and the Ecosystemic Research Group with the aim to assess urban air pollution. The wall is being monitored to understand which plant species are the most ideal for carbon sequestration in cities (2 and 3).