New processes of incorporating flora and fauna into urban spaces show promise for creating healthier, cleaner, and more habitable cities, and enhancing the quality of life for occupants. This innovation in urban planning is also a key component of the push for cities to take action against climate change. According to the United Nations Environment Program, it is estimated that cities are responsible for 75 percent of global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, with transport and buildings being among the largest contributors to the issue (1). Significantly, the built environment accounts for about 40% of global energy-related greenhouse gas emissions. With statistics pointing to buildings being a major cause of city’s CO2 emissions, questions are being raised on how to make the structures we live in more sustainable. A nature-based solution to this problem is green architecture. Green architecture are structures that have been built to accommodate not only humans, but nature, via green roofs and green walls. The most popular of these options are green roofs, where small shrubs, plants and even trees are planted on the top of the building. This idea of integrating plants into building design is not a new one. English ivy, creeping fig, and Virginia creeper have been used to enhance building facades for centuries (2), with climbing vines easily scaling the building with little maintenance, with simple structures to accommodate these plants adding little cost to the construction of the building. This concept is now being adapted to address issues consistent with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 11, which aims to make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable. SDG 11 specifically refers to creating green and culturally inspiring living conditions (3), to which green architecture directly contributes. There are multiple appeals of this design including air purification, providing habitats for birds and small animals, diverting and absorbing runoff from storms and extreme precipitation to reduce risk of flooding, enhancing the curb appeal of the structure, and most importantly, CO2 absorption. In addition to the use of plants as an urban carbon sink, green architecture also provides nature-based benefits to the residents of the building. The heat absorbed by the plants creates a natural cooling system that is effective and economically advantageous, reducing the amount of artificial cooling used within the building. It is clear that incorporating nature-based architectural solutions such as green walls and roofs in sustainable building design provide benefits to urban spaces, the environment, and humans as well. 

Sources:

1.         United Nations Environment Program (UNEP)

https://www.unep.org/explore-topics/resource-efficiency/what-we-do/cities/sustainable-buildings

2.         Mississippi State University

http://extension.msstate.edu/plants-for-green-walls#:~:text=Ferns%2C%20mosses%2C%20sedums%2C%20and,which%20gravitates%20to%20the%20base.

3.         United Nations Global Goals

https://www.globalgoals.org/goals/11-sustainable-cities-and-communities/