Learn how Toronto’s award-winning Green Roof By-Law and the Toronto Green Standard shaped resilient, climate-positive cities, improved air quality, supported pollinators, and provided energy savings, and why their loss could impact Toronto’s future livability

Green roof substrates are the foundation of successful living roofs, yet they are often misunderstood. This article explores how evolving guidelines, industry-led innovations, and ongoing research are reshaping green roof growing media, revealing why substrate choice is critical to plant performance, long-term durability, and the future expansion of green roofs in diverse urban climates.

Learn why engineered green roof soil is essential for long-term performance and plant health on rooftops. This article explores lightweight, durable green roof growing media, flexible soil systems for diverse applications, deeper soil solutions for amenity-focused roofs, and science-backed product development that meets industry standards and evolving design goals.

What are the most transformative innovations shaping green roofs and green walls today? Leading industry experts share insights on performance-based design, smart irrigation, advanced leak detection, substrate innovation, wind uplift standards, and tech-enabled green walls.

Discover how leak detection systems protect green roofs and the waterproof membranes beneath them. This article explores common construction-related membrane risks, explains passive and automated leak detection technologies, and demonstrates through a real-world case study how early detection reduces repair costs, minimizes disruption, and safeguards the long-term performance of green roof systems.

Toronto’s green roofs improve in plant health over time, with roof size, building height, and vegetation type driving long-term success. Insights from NDVI remote sensing guide sustainable, resilient urban green infrastructure planning.

This article explores the potential of growing fruiting crops beneath solar panels on green roofs, examining opportunities, challenges, and the role this innovative system could play in resilient urban food and energy systems.

An overview of the health and environmental impacts of rapidly increasing plastic production and the current legislative, technical and individual efforts to address it. 

When nature is absent from the environments we live, work, and play, we suffer. However, intensive green roofs like rooftop gardens can bring the healing benefits of nature into urban environments. This article explores how to make “tree places’ on rooftop gardens.

This article describes some of the remarkable ways that PS 41's accessible school green roof has been used to help students by facilitating mental health counseling and a policy initiative to try to build more. 

The origins, function, strengths and weaknesses of the Green Roof Energy Calculator are described in detail as well as the wish list for its future development.

Hailstorms are becoming an increasingly costly threat to buildings, particularly in regions like Texas, Colorado, and the Great Plains but research shows that green roofs are a resilient solution to mitigate hail damage and protect waterproofing.

The Regional Academic Centers of Excellence are initiating a study on green roof growing media microbes to improve our understanding of their many roles and you are invited to participate.  

Integrating bio strips into green roofs enhances urban biodiversity, improves stormwater management, and supports pollinators by creating structurally diverse habitats. This nature-based approach strengthens ecological resilience and reconnects fragmented urban ecosystems in the face of rapid urbanization.

Discover how extensive green roofs at The Parks at Walter Reed in Washington, D.C., mitigate stormwater runoff, enhance urban sustainability, and provide aesthetic and environmental benefits. Featuring LEED® Gold-certified designs and advanced roofing technologies, this project sets a benchmark for green infrastructure in urban redevelopment.

This feature explores rooftop agrivoltaics, combining food-producing green roofs and solar panels, highlighting research advancements at Colorado State University and their potential to address urban food, energy, and water challenges efficiently.

Discover how 12 acres of native and sedum green roofs at Washington D.C.'s Munro Coast Guard Building exemplify sustainability. Learn about stormwater management, biodiversity, and economic benefits of green roofs thriving over a decade. Insightful for urban designers and policymakers.

Discover how green roofs and vegetable gardens on Denver and Boulder medical campuses enhance sustainability, improve patient recovery, boost staff well-being, and foster community engagement, driving a healthier and more sustainable future in healthcare.

We analyzed landcover change in Porto, Portugal, using satellite imagery from 2017 and 2022. K-Nearest Neighbor classification revealed increases in impervious surfaces and decreases in vegetation, highlighting opportunities for green roof interventions and the importance of climate justice considerations.

As Toronto co-hosts the 20th Anniversary of CitiesAlive in November, this article chronicles the early policy steps taken by the City to mandate and incentivize green roofs, now covering more than 10 million sf of roof area.