Back in May 2020, the European Union presented its biodiversity strategy for 2030 – a comprehensive plan to protect nature, reverse the degradation of ecosystems and put Europe's biodiversity on a path to recovery by 2030.

When designing a living roof for a particular kind of habitat for wildlife, it is important to know that some forms of wildlife (i.e., specialists) are dependent upon a specific species of grass for its development while generalists can be served by multiple species of grasses.

This award winning project in Long Island, New York illustrates the important contribution homeowners can make to biodiversity conservation on their roofs while enjoying high quality amenity space.

This deep dive into the design of a sustainable industrial facility in Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon) developed through the leadership of Peter Jakob, Founder of Jakob Systems, demonstrates the remarkable performance capabilities of green facades.

As climate adaptation policies and programs become an increasingly more significant driver of community infrastructure investment and practice, the Green Infrastructure Charrette Program can be adapted to help communities build upon latest best practices and align staff, elected officials, and the public towards holistic solutions that create long-term value.

Biodiversity should not be viewed as a project afterthought but should be at the forefront of all city and project planning. Green roofs should be as biodiverse as possible given project constraints.

Dr. Stephan Brenneisen, the father of green roof and biodiversity research discusses how to design green roofs for biodiversity, green roof policy in Basel Switzerland and his future plans.

In this study, 21 green roof tables were constructed and utilized to compare nine green roof treatments including a roof water reservoir designed to provide temporary water storage (blue roof), two commercially available module systems, these module systems combined with a blue roof underneath (blue-green roof), rockwool, pavers, gravel, and the roofing membrane alone.

The Living Architecture Academy is dedicated to bringing you the best, most up to date professional training information on design, installation and maintenance practices. Earn low cost and high quality CEUs from the AIA, LACES, APLD, GRP and more. Start your professional development journey today!

Over the past 20 years, a wide range of economic, social and ecological benefits have resulted from integrating agriculture and architecture into new and existing building projects. This is a quick review of eight main benefits of these projects with examples from North America and around the world.

Rooftop agrivoltaics are cutting edge technologies that consist of the integration of rooftop farming with solar photovoltaics. With an estimated 1.2 million acres of rooftops in the US suitable for solar panels, discover the latest research on agrivoltaics.

Edward O. Wilson gave meaning to Eric Fromm’s term “biophilia” and his many contributions will continue to shape the design world for decades to come.

Find out the details and lessons learned from the Awards of Excellence Winning IGA Rooftop Farm in Montreal, Quebec, which sells more than 7 tonnes of fresh organic produce in the store below!

Want to help pollinators? This article provides you with the reasons for supporting pollinators as well as detailed information of families of plants that can support a wide range of pollinators across North America on green roofs.

Henry Gordon Smith, Roxanne Miller and Antoine Troitter share their unique perspectives on the challenges and opportunities associated with the rapid expansion of the ‘agritecture’ sector.

Ed Snodgrass, a true pioneer in the green roof industry, shares his vision of what it means to have a fully mature green roof market.

Looking forward to Spring 2022: learn about some important spring maintenance tips for your green roof and avoid problems that may arise from a lack of maintenance.

The European Solar Rooftops Initiative presents a unique opportunity to maximize the impact for cities and citizens promoting the combination of green infrastructure and solar installations on every rooftop and impervious surface where it is economically and technically feasible.

This article summarizes much of Green Roof Diagnostics’ (GRD) approach to applied research. Of the three pillars of sustainability (environmental, social, and economic), this article focuses primarily on the last pillar: economic sustainability via a recent case study where one developer was able to save US$540,000 by utilizing rooftop detention technology.

This is an overview of the many ways in which food is now being produced in cities from mushroom farming to rooftop greenhouses.