The Martlet

Imagine flying over any major city and, instead of seeing vast, square cement rooftops, you see parks and walking-path bridges that connect to adjacent rooftop parks.

This doesn’t have to be imagination, but those who can make this reality must require buildings to have green roofs.

Beyond cosmetics, green rooftops in our cities would help keep us cooler in summer, and would give city dwellers somewhere to go to escape the noise and stink of city traffic.

As a student in the UVic’s Restoration of Natural Systems Program, the issue of a balanced system often arises. A balanced system means that all things within a system need to be accounted for, and that no one thing is weighted too heavily at the expense of another.

Most cities around the world have been built to accommodate the vehicle, and pedestrians and cyclists are forced to make do with what is left.

Green roofs provide more green space and opportunities to escape the ever-present vehicle, finally putting us on a path where cities are built with humans and wildlife — not solely vehicles — in mind.

There are some cities in Canada that are beginning to make this fantasy come true. Vancouver is well known for its two large-sized green roofs.

In 1995, the Vancouver Public Library had a 1,500-square-metre green roof installed. As well, Vancouver’s Convention Centre is home to a six-acre green roof, which houses thousands of indigenous plants.

Some Canadian cities have even enacted policies requiring some new buildings to have green roofs. Port Coquitlam, for example, adopted a zoning bylaw amendment in December of 2006 requiring green roofs for all large format buildings that exceeded 5,000 square metres.

In 2004, Toronto commissioned a team from Ryerson University to prepare a study on the benefits of an extensive implementation of green roofs in the city.

The results, indicated that “widespread implementation of green roofs in Toronto would provide significant economic benefits to the city, particularly in the areas of stormwater management and reducing the urban heat island and associated energy use for cooling.” The study, coupled with roundtable discussions and input from the public, resulted in the adoption of the Green Roof Bylaw by Toronto City Council on May 26, 2009.

As organizations like Green Roofs for Healthy Cities spring up, people now have access to the information needed to work towards a greener future. Environment Canada even presented a study in 2006, which showed that green roofs can reduce the energy used for heating homes by up to 10 per cent during the winter months. And Environment Canada states that “a typical one storey building with a grass roof and 10 cm (3.9 inches) of soil, or other growing mediums, would result in a 25 per cent reduction in summer cooling needs.”

The list of benefits associated with green roofs could go on and on, so what is stopping us? Why do we not see more and more of these rooftop havens each year?

A study done by the London organization LivingRoofs revealed that 92 per cent of developers agreed that “the physical structure of many buildings prevents the establishment of green roofs,” while only 27 per cent of engineers agreed with that same sentiment.

The author of the study then spoke with structural engineers and discovered that, “it is not as much of a problem in theory, but that many engineers are unfamiliar with green roofs and tend not to want to deal with things they are not familiar with.”

So, if it is just a matter of spreading the word, then here I am spreading the word, and I encourage you to do the same.

Look up green roofs on the Internet, or talk to someone who knows about them. You’ll be surprised at how eager and excited people get once they start talking about these sanctuaries.

I leave you with this: close your eyes and really try to picture green roofs on every building. Now, picture people sitting on benches, chatting with friends on their lunch break. Help me make this fantasy a reality. Spread the word.