ROLE OF ROOF GARDEN research paper essay

ROLE OF ROOF GARDEN

With international focus on sustainable development, interest in the role of open space in the urban environment has increased in recent decades (Gehl and Gemzoe, 2001; Hollis and Fulton, 2002). Policies for creating and preserving open space are increasingly implemented at a variety of urban densities and spatial scales.

Many cities across the world have created green networks, green belts and programs to protect open space and restore connections to nature (Pendall et al., 2002).

Many cities across Europe (especially in Germany, France, Austria, Norway and Switzerland) and Asia have started to green the roofs of buildings. By 1996, one in ten flat roofs in German cities was greened while 70% of flat roofed inner city buildings in Swiss cities are reported to have roof gardens (Peck et al., 1999).

In Asia, roof gardens are assiduously promoted in Japan, Hong Kong and Singapore.

In Singapore, rooftop greening has gained the support of the government who will take the lead in implementing skydeck greenery in public housing estates and public buildings. The Tokyo government has passed a decree in April 2000 requiring all new buildings with a floor area of 1000m2 or larger to plant trees (namely, conifers and cedars) on rooftops (Environment Preservation Bureau Tokyo Metropolitan City, 1999).

uch has been said elsewhere about open space contributions to urban quality of life. Research across different disciplines has shown that greenery directly benefits the urban environment and Researchers have drawn attention to the human benefits. In particular, the work of Ulrich (1984) is widely cited as illustrating the restorative health benefits that window view greenery can have on patient recovery. In Knopf’s (1987) analysis, there are four broad dimensions on how greenery affects urban living: nature as restorer, as competence builder, as symbol and as diversion.

What is of interest to us, however, is the familiar argument which states that trees and vegetation may improve urban climate by
reducing carbon dioxide and cooling the heat island (Dwyer et al., 1992). Green roofs constitute an area where photosynthesis would occur signifying that it consumes carbon. Hence, in large numbers, green roofs have the capacity to reduce carbon-based air pollutants and consequently help in carbon management.

While research on carbon management of urban parks exists, much less attention is being paid to the small-scale green areas that are close to where people live and work. This paper takes a closer look at one such area, the roof gardens, its usage and potential, through a case study of its application and development in Tehran, the capital city of Iran.

Our intention is to contribute to the evolving theoretical and empirical discussions on this subject as we seek to understand the role of green spaces in air pollution control particularly in carbon management. This paper also seeks to ascertain the feasibility and sustainability of green roofs in water-thirsty, smog-covered Iran and putting forth recommendations regarding appropriate practices to be used in future planning of the city.

2.0 Literature Review

This chapter is primarily concerned in providing the necessary background for understanding the purpose of the research. The goal is to equip the reader with the knowledge to understand the concepts presented in the ensuing passages.

2.1 Air Pollution and the Tehran Urban Setting

One of the greatest challenges for human society today is air pollution, a phenomenon that refers to the addition of harmful substances to the atmosphere consequently damaging the environment and posing a threat to human health.

Air pollution can be as local as inside a home or as widespread as to affect an entire continent. Aside from causing breathing problems and cancer, air pollutants also return to Earth in the form of acid rain and snow that have been shown to induce corrosion to buildings and statues, increase the salinity of lakes and streams and damage crops and foliage. Because of the burning of fossil fuels, the clearing of forests, and other such practices, the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere has been increasing since the Industrial Revolution.

Atmospheric concentrations have risen from an estimated 260 to 379 ppm3. This increase accounts for only half of the estimated amount of carbon dioxide poured into the atmosphere. The other 50 percent has probably been taken up by and stored in the oceans (Nowak and Crane, 2002).

This increasing CO2 level has mainly been caused by emissions from the burning of fossil fuels such as coal, gasoline, and petroleum. Anthropogenic fossil fuel burning alone has produced approximately three-quarters of the increase in CO2 over the past 20 years (Pearson and Palmer, 2000) and emissions continue to increase (IPCC, 2007).

Unless measures are taken to mitigate the accumulation of atmospheric CO2, these increases might pose a serious threat to ecological and socio-economic systems (Karl et al., 1997).
Tehran

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