In a recently released action plan, City of Melbourne said that efforts over the last 10 years to help green the city’s environment has resulted in positive change, but 'more significant results are needed to curb the loss of green space and provide additional greening.'
With 38 green rooftops in the municipality, Melbourne is one of our greenest CBDs, but the city has announced it will change regulations to improve greening as the city needed to do far better. The plan includes rooftops, walls and lane ways as city greening not only improves the vibrancy and vitality of the city, but it also absorbs heat and literally drinks water, thereby mitigating flooding.
Green roofs and vertical greening are exploding around the world and have been utilised to help mitigate the effects of climate change and improve city amenity around the world, with outstanding examples in cities like Berlin, Chicago, London, New York, Malmo, Seattle, Tokyo and Toronto have all created greener cities by introducing planning requirements.
The City of Melbourne has 800 hectares of rooftop space. The objective is to turn as much of this space as possible, green. And thereby reducing CO2 emissions, collecting rainwater and absorbing atmospheric heat - making the city 'more populous, prosperous, healthy, cool and liveable.' The Green Our City Strategic Action Plan forms part of City of Melbourne's 2019-2020 budget and beyond to the end of council term. The main image is an artist's impression.Images: City of Melbourne