Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter 6: Outlook
Over the last 20 years, research has helped to establish the beneits of living roofs
on buildings. Having evolved from a traditional rooing strategy to a technology
for ecosystem services, living roofs can be implemented as a viable alternative to
conventional rooing techniques on new and retroit projects. Their beneits are
manifold, providing for environmental, social and infrastructure services. Of
these, the link between form and function, particularly to promote stormwater
management, are championed in this topic.
Despite a rapidly growing body of published research and a specialist industry,
few planning manuals provide comprehensive guidance to make informed design
decisions that can assist in the creation of water-sensitive rooftop environments
in cities. This topic begins to ill that gap, providing qualitative planning strate-
gies and quantitative design advice for stormwater mitigation, while acknow-
ledging the relatively early stages of scientiic understanding. It is not intended as
a construction manual. We attempt to offer realistic performance expectations,
and recognize current limitations of the technology. The content of this topic is
intended for design professionals, building owners, governments, environmental
stakeholders, researchers and students.
It is our contention that living roofs must become an integral part of urban
planning, engineering and architectural design, in light of the diverse beneits
they have to offer. This is an ambitious goal, as the majority of municipalities
worldwide still lack comprehensive living roof design guidelines, with notable
exceptions including Toronto, Seattle, Portland, Chicago, New York, Melbourne,
Stuttgart, Linz, London and Berlin (Lawlor et al. 2006). Living roofs can only
become embedded in municipal policy if the following variables are at play: irst,
architects, landscape architects, engineers and urban planners must actively
advocate for publicly accessible living roofs in their own proposals; second,
public/private access to living roofs must be made mandatory in the planning
permission process of buildings, large inner-city developments, and new commu-
nity master plans; third, permitting authorities must implement policies and
inancial infrastructure to streamline the process for both individual building and
multiplex owners, especially in real estate economies that are developer-driven,
and; inally, scientiic and engineering communities must continue to develop our
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