More attractive cities, improved air quality, reduced energy consumption, happier residents, preserved wildlife, extended building lifespans, and saving the climate on top of it all! Impossible? — Think again! It can be done with urban greening.

Search for “urban greening” online and it quickly becomes clear that this is an extraordinarily broad topic — one with potential as vast as its complexity. In an era of global climate debate, every industry is asking what it can contribute to protecting the environment. What solar, wind, and hydropower are for energy companies, what the electric car is for the automotive industry, or what permaculture is for agriculture — urban greening is for the construction and real estate sector.

So What Exactly Is Urban Greening?

This umbrella term encompasses all forms of vegetation in urban areas. This can include building or facade greening, the restoration of sealed surfaces, urban gardening, parks, green spaces, and cemeteries. But it also includes something as simple as window boxes or planters along the pavement.

What Can Plants Actually Achieve?

If you trust the experts, the potential extends far beyond climate protection — and it is a topic we simply cannot afford to ignore.

Examples of the Impact of Urban Greening

• CO2 reduction: Plants metabolise water and CO2 into sugar and oxygen through photosynthesis.
• Particulate matter filter: Fine dust particles clump together on leaves, rendering them less harmful to the respiratory system. Moss walls such as the CityTrees developed by the Dresden-based startup Green City Solutions take this even further. According to an article on pflanzenforschung.de, the moss varieties used are even capable of breaking down components of fine particulate matter.
• Enhanced quality of stay in public spaces through summer heat protection, improved microclimates, and a boost to subjective well-being.
• Sound insulation: Plants and green spaces absorb noise through their leaf canopy and substrate layers, thereby reducing ambient noise levels. This makes us more relaxed, because less noise means less stress.
• Extended building lifespan: According to gruenstattgrau.at, the waterproofing of a flat roof, for example, lasts at least ten years longer when the roof is greened.

Despite all these obvious advantages, building greening is often met with resistance from developers and investors. According to a study by the Technical University of Darmstadt, this is frequently due to a lack of specialist expertise and knowledge. Successful building greening therefore requires planning, execution, and maintenance in accordance with current technical standards.

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Sources:

• gruenstattgrau.at
• Green City Solutions
• Facade Greening Study (TU Darmstadt / NRW)
• pflanzenforschung.de
• Urban Greening Graz