On 6th November 350 planners, landscape architects and government officials gathered in Rotterdam for an international symposium – ‘Green and the City’. At the core of this event were the experiences of those working across five countries in building more liveable, sustainable cities with the help of plants and green space.

The speakers and what they said...

Lucas Bolsius and Hilde Blank introduced the symposium with scene setting information about the City of Rotterdam and its programme ‘Rotterdam Colours Green’. They described the social responsibility to enhance existing green space and to develop more, including green roofs. The Erasmus University Medical centre in Rotterdam, which employs 13,000 people has green roofs totalling the area of two football pitches.

Professor Larry Beasley, University of British Columbia and Director of Planning for the City of Vancouver detailed the progress made in reversing the ‘flight from the city’ and increasing the population of ‘downtown’ Vancouver from 43,000 in 1986 to 91,000 in 2008. This has been achieved by a range of planning mechanisms to enhance quality of life, nurture a social and cultural mix, provide residents with amenities, social features and the option to walk and cycle in the heart of the city (more than 60% of transport in the downtown area is now by non-motorised modes). Green space for recreation, contemplation and recharge, as well as local food production is at the core of Vancouver’s approach. The result of this work is that the city is becoming a fascinating, rewarding place to live where happiness can be achieved.

Michael Shwarze Rodrian presented a lifetime’s work transforming the derelict, post industrial landscapes of the Ruhr into amazing public parks and green spaces as well as converting former industrial buildings into the headquarters of international corporations. The sites of the Ruhr, including the famous Emsher Park, now draw visitors in from Germany and internationally. Some are lit at night, providing a fascinating visual experience; others prove a draw in the winter when large expanses of water next to former coking furnaces provide fantastic opportunities for skating. Shwarze Rodrian showed how an initial policy of clearing the sites left bland, unappealing brownfields that no one wanted to visit or invest in. A new approach developed, taking the awe-inspiring relics of industry and turning them into sculptures and monuments of the past, within green surroundings.

Adriaan Geuze delivered a critique of open space in many Dutch cities and challenged the authorities to prevent the further development of ‘anytown’ settlements which fail to provide the facilities people need to live fulfilling lives. He gave examples of token greenery and challenged planners and developers to achieve much more.

Jenny Jones, Deputy Mayor of London under Ken Livingstone, set out the issues of food security faced by the City of London and its inhabitants. At the core of her vision for addressing the food insecurity of London is the renaissance of food production within and near to the city. She talked of the opportunity presented by the 2012 Olympic Games for providing healthy food for the event and the London-wide food growing plan, based on the concept of ‘Growing Spaces’ which was intitated under the previous mayor and has been embraced by the new one. Her address focussed on the role of green space in food production but touched on the broader health and sociological benefits that accrue from actively working with green space in the city.

Michael Berkshire, from the Mayor’s Office in Chicago detailed a range of actions that the city has taken over the past twenty-five years to improve the public realm and bring more green infrastructure into the city. In addition, the city has run a number of programmes to enhance the eco-efficiency of homes and businesses including the retrofitting of energy-saving technologies into vernacular properties – the green bungalow homes project. Public buildings, including City Hall, must be certified as sustainable in terms of their energy needs. The green roof on City Hall covers the section over which the Mayor’s Office has jurisdiction – the other half being un-vegetated. On a summer’s day there is an 80oF difference between the two halves of the building. The green roof has also been proven to absorb 90% of rainfall during a downpour. There are also policies in place for stromwater management, including permeable ‘green alleys’ and financial incentives for installing green roofs – they’re obligatory if the building benefits from public finance. The guiding principle is maintain and improve urban design to optimise environmental benefit for current and future residents.

Beyond the top line

There were detailed analyses of the efficacy of green roofs at reducing the risk and incidence of flooding during extreme rainfall events, lowering summer temperatures and reducing the effect of the ‘urban heat island’, bringing nature into the city and improving the lives of residents and workers. There was also a summary of research into the medical benefits of plants in relation to health which involved the analysis of 360 000 medical records and identified a positive correlation between green space and health. This was due to three primary factors: the reduction of stress that follows experience of plants; the increased exercise that people take when green space is available and the enhanced social contact with resulting benefits that green space facilitates.

At the core of everything that was said on November 6th was the conviction that green space must become a fundamental principle of design and that local solutions must emerge from the grass roots and with reference to the traditions, values and heritage of the residents making up communities. If the dream of the suburbs has been the factor driving residential development for the past 150 years, resulting in diffuse, car-dependent settlements where the young, elderly or badly off are isolated, then a new vision for planning is needed now that responds to the demand of the twenty-first century.

Our settlements must be multi-functional places that are child-friendly, liveable and workable. They must provide the facilities for a social mix. They must be environmentally engineered to cope with all that a changing climate can throw at them as well as beginning to address the way they source their food. The delegates at the symposium heard from across the board that plants and green space are a key element in achieving every one of these goals.