Articles
Rooftop Farm Living Lab: Research Takes Root at the Urban Farm at TMU
Toronto Metropolitan University is using its two rooftop farms to advance the practice of rooftop farming through multiple research projects, while also supporting food justice. See also the podcast with Arlene Throness, Urban Farm Manager, and Nicole Austin, Black-led Programs Coordinator.
The Importance of Proactive Green Roof Maintenance
With contributions from Emily Ahlstedt and Nicole Semeraro, Andrew Mihalchick provides a concise overview of the reasons for proactive maintenance and an outline of the major tasks involved and why they are worth doing.
GRHC Introduces New Certification Hands on Training Course For Green Roof Installers and Maintenance Professionals (GRIMP)
Learn about GRHC's new Installation and Maintenance training and certification, developed over 3 years by an expert committee.
Landscape Architecture Foundation (LAF) Launches New Program to Support BIPOC Design Students
The Landscape Architecture Foundation has released IGNITE, a scholarship-internship-mentorship program for Black, Indigenous and people of color to increase their participation as Landscape Architecture professionals.
Picking the Right Green Roof Media for Urban Agriculture
The performance requirements of the soil/growing medium on rooftop farms are complex. Learn more about the different requirements from the experts at rooflite.
Natives for Nutrition and Healing: Green Roof Plants with a Purpose
K-12 schools, universities and local businesses are great places to have edible and healing rooftop plants which provide a wide variety of educational and edible benefits. Take a tour of these diverse projects and learn what they have to offer.
Nicole Austin & Arlene Throness - Food, Social Justice, and Community Healing
This episode, Sustainable Futures is joined by Nicole Austin, Black Student Engagement Coordinator, and Arlene Throness, Urban Farm Manager, to discuss their work with the urban rooftop farms at Toronto Metropolitan University.
Rooftop Farms Across North America
Here is the most comprehensive list of rooftop and urban farms in North America ever assembled.
European Lawmakers Poised to Include Green Infrastructure in New Rules for Sustainable Buildings
New developments in the European Parliament are supportive of green infrastructure and now must pass National government approval.
Visioning Community-Scale Green Infrastructure in Philadelphia at CitiesAlive
This article describes the detailed methods used to conduct a Green Infrastructure Charrette at CitiesAlive in Philadelphia in order to create a vision of a healthier, more sustainable community using Green Infrastructure and conduct a cost/benefit analysis of the proposals.
How Mycorrhizae Can Benefit the Performance of Green Roof Plants
Come up to speed on the literature surrounding mycorrhizae and green roof plants and learn about their performance enhancing mutualistic relationships and what you can do to encourage them.
Dr. Mike Dixon, Green Infrastructure Among the Stars
This episode, Sustainable Futures is joined by Dr. Mike Dixon, PhD to discuss his futuristic work in developing a biological life support system based on plants for the International Space program through the Space and Advanced Life Support Agriculture (SALSA) program at the University of Guelph.
Extensive Green Roof Study on a Retrofit Building in Berlin, Germany: Report After 34 Years of Monitoring
This report describes the continued observation of the plant development on a green roof on a retrofit building in Berlin from 1986 to 2019. This project symbolizes a shift in the urban planning paradigm in post-war Berlin away from demolishing blocks of the housing that survived World War II to gradual renovation of the remaining historic rented courtyard buildings.
GRHC Launches Regional Grey to Green Conferences Across North America
An update on new industry developments including new trainings, conferences, and more.
Ten Innovations in North America’s Green Roof and Wall Industry
Ten diverse innovations in living architecture - ranging from technologies and research to project certification and policy - plus trends and recommendations for future endeavors.
A New Pattern of Biophilic Design - Awe
New scientific evidence suggests the need to add to the 14 Patterns of Biophilic Design. This article by William Browning and Catherine Ryan of Terrapin Bright Green explains what it means to experience Awe in the built environment through biophilic design and provides multiple of examples from architecture and nature.
Chaos and Complexity – Pushing the Boundaries of Gabion Baskets
Learn about the many benefits of creatively using gabion baskets in your landscape designs from improved waste material management to creating new opportunities to support biodiversity.
A New Blue-Green Roof Solution: LiveRoof RoofBlue® RETAIN™
New research shows that LiveRoof’s innovative new Blue-Green Roof product, RoofBlue® RETAIN™ has the ability to reduce stormwater runoff, conserve irrigation water, and enhance plant growth.
Planting Green Roofs with Native Shrubs
Explore opportunities to incorporate shrubs into your future green roof designs - what to look for and what to watch out for - in this latest offering from Bruce Dvorak.
Ed Snodgrass, 5th Generation Farmer and Green Roof Pioneer
This Sustainable Futures: Designing Green Communities and Buildings Podcast episode features Ed Snodgrass. He’s a 5th generation farmer and green roof nursery pioneer who provides insights into a wide range of topics including plant research, climate change and rewilding the Emory Knoll Farm.