Green is not a luxury, it is a necessity
WHY GREEN /
Coping with 21st century challenges means revising current urban green practices. Urbanization puts pressure on the space available for greenery while nature is essential to human life: vegetation, for instance, contributes to human well-being, enabling physical activities, playground and stress-mitigation effects. Besides this, the integration of vegetation in urban areas can increase the cities resilience against downpours, extreme temperatures, air and noise pollution while improving the biodiversity. Green City Buzz believes that in modern cities, greenery is no longer a luxury, it is a necessity: Environmental degradation and changing weather conditions make well planned and well managed green spaces increasingly valuable and valued by the population.
Most cities and organizations are reluctant to invest in green. However, green is one of the most profitable forms of investment given its easy, fast and flexible implementation, the low costs and sheer effectiveness. The textbook example is the city of Singapore, which has successfully used their Garden City approach as tool for economic development whilst improving the well-being of their citizens. Green City Buzz strives to achieve just that by accelerating the planning, development and implementation of sustainable urban green.
what GREEN /
Green and good green are a world apart. Most cities, real-estate developers and companies undervalue their greenery efforts by viewing them mostly in quantitative terms rather than in terms of quality. Good green is first and foremost environmentally sustainable. It contributes to the local ecosystem and renders cities resilience against the ever changing weather conditions. Secondly, good green is durable by design. This is apparent in the process of landscaping and visible in the choice of maintenance. For instance, ideally plants should always be placed in deep soil. Thirdly, good green is year-round appealing and adds aesthetic value to existing architecture. Implementing 365-days a year interesting green will not only be longer beneficial for the city and its citizens, it will also creates a way more valuable proposition.
Green and good green are a world apart
surfaces rarely considered should be GREENed
WHere GREEN /
To prepare the urban scape for current and upcoming challenges, surfaces that are rarely considered for greening should be included and large scale development projects should be greened in a coordinated fashion. Whilst roofs are more and more made available for greenery, quality and durability are often lacking from a point of design. Façades are often not considered for greenery while this can be a meaningful contribution to a better urban environment. Such as shift necessitates acquiring new knowledge, but would also open up opportunities for implementation by new actors. By overcoming current obstacles, focusing on sustainability and expanding greenery implementation, green becomes an interesting investment opportunity in line with CSR policies.