this post was submitted on 29 Aug 2023
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Solarpunk Urbanism

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A community to discuss solarpunk and other new and alternative urbanisms that seek to break away from our currently ecologically destructive urbanisms.

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[–] poVoq 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Like the video already outlines... lots of structural issues for having trees there, while planted cascades and similar green-roofs are much simpler and easier to build. I think this is one of the cases where the result does not justify the costs/efforts required.

[–] LibertyLizard 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Probably doesn’t make sense for standard residential buildings but for these tall buildings that are highly engineered, does it really increase the costs by that much? Trees offer a large increase in benefits over other types of vegetation due to the shade and many times greater biomass.

That said, simpler green roofs should also be more widely used in cases where trees are too heavy or expensive. And vines and green walls too. I want to see the concrete jungle become an actual jungle!

[–] poVoq 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

That huge below surface cistern and the efforts to anchor the trees against wind would seem to add significantly to the cost over artificial shading structures with ranking plants for example.

[–] LibertyLizard 1 points 1 year ago

I suppose it would depend on the costs and benefits which I haven’t seen quantified. But in general those things don’t provide anywhere near the benefits trees do.