Cleaner air, better heat resistance, and nicer looking buildings!
Municipal Councilors in Groningen believe that more nature should be added to- or in new homes built in the city. The coalition of GroenLinks, Partij voor de Dieren, and D66 say that more greenery is needed on roofs, side walls and in streets. The inclusion should provide a cooling effect in the sometimes-stiflingly hot city in summer and will also offers more space for insects and birds.
The coalition have submitted an initiative proposal to allow the construction of homes and offices to go hand in hand with adding nature and greenery, reports the GIC.
A nature-inclusive building should try to add nature to the cityscape, instead of causing nature to disappear. To this end, agreements must be made with large project developers, among other things. This could be done by including green clauses in any plans to address the ongoing housing crisis in the city.
New construction and renovation are often at the expense of nature, says Hans Sietsma, council member for GroenLinks. “We see that paving is increasing, that roofs are still plasticised, and that trees too often removed. If you consider a building as a kind of mountain landscape, with steep slopes, with terraces, with green roofs, with facades that can become overgrown, then you ultimately add nature that benefits everyone in the city” says Sietsma. His personal ideas envision almost every surface of a building lending itself to give nature – plants, insects, birds, even trees – a place.
Image: the Bosco Verticale (Vertical Forest) building in Milan, Italy. Designed by Boeri Studio, the two towers incorporate over 900 trees into their design. Via Wikimedia user Marco Sala. License here.
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