What are ‘Green Envelopes’ and Why Would They Transform the Future of Cities?
Sourced from EuroNews
With summer around the corner, many cities are preparing to battle increasingly hot temperatures and provide some respite to their citizens. Heatwaves make not only working, travelling and socialising difficult, and in some extreme cases even life-threatening, they are also an economic drain and put pressure on essential services like transport and health.
Now more than 970 cities are set to experience average summertime temperature highs of 35C by 2050, according to C40 Cities. And some cities are already appointing ‘chief heat officers’ to find ways of dealing with extreme temperatures.
Built up areas of cities, where tall buildings trap high temperatures in their surroundings, are particularly problematic due to the ‘heat islands’ they create. Rather than turning to air conditioning to solve this, which produces even more carbon emissions, there is a natural solution for reducing temperatures thanks to the power of plants.
But with the space for ‘green infrastructure’ like parks, gardens and trees limited in our cities, we must not forget about an important element of the built environment which can be part of the solution – buildings themselves.
The idea of a green facade or ‘living wall’ has gained momentum in recent years, in large part thanks to their aesthetic and often photogenic appearance. Too often, however, these green facades have been designed for beauty over function and have come to be seen as expensive and resource-heavy.
From the Living Architecture Academy
