Urban Greening in Europe

The overview of urban greening examples from Europe showed the distinct nature of thinking when designing cities in that continent. Whereas in most U.S. cities extreme green features are rare and many are just starting to emerge, European cities are designed to look as green as possible, both within the city, in its surroundings, and in its structures. One of the most important characteristics that make European cities green is high density. Due to improved inner-city transportation and the connectedness of buildings, these cities can free up a lot of space for open spaces and woodlots. In some of these cities, more than half of the city area can be a mix of agricultural land and forestland. This is very different from the United States, where just some major cities have significant green spaces, and has much to do with city planning and design.
Another great feature has to do with buildings. Greenroofs and greenwalls are excellent examples of how the inner city can be greened up. Not only do these reduce energy costs, but they also prolong the life of buildings and refresh the city air. In most cities, local governments subsidize much of the cost of these green features, not because of political image, as many may think in the United States, but because of economic and aesthetic reasons. In the U.S., Chicago and New York City have been promoting the installation of rooftop gardens, but greenwalls have not yet made it into our cities.
One of the most important aspects of green European cities is that they emphasize ecological regeneration. At a time when human society is rapidly overshooting the Earth’s biological capacity to produce natural resources, it is important to work on ecological regeneration. Many European cities have taken abandoned industry sites and turned them into green spaces. In some cities, the government pays for the complete removal of pavements and the incorporation of trees. Degraded areas within the city are typically cleaned up and made green, providing great health and aesthetic benefits to city members and attracting wildlife to the city.
One can think about how greenroofs, for example, can be paid for in cities using the savings generated from reduced energy use. In rapidly developing urban areas of the developing world, for example, local governments can set local mandates (separate from any weaker national mandate) to place greenroofs in all new houses or buildings and greenwalls in every existing and new public building. They can subsidize the initial cost and then increase the user’s energy bill by whatever percentage in energy savings the greenroof would make. In this way, the city takes into account the long-term vision of making the city green.
The reading raises many concerns. For once, it isn’t clear what mechanisms local governments use to raise the necessary funds to subsidize green projects in cities. It also paints a very extreme picture, especially with the idea of having “trees coming out of windows.” But something that I think is really useful is the idea of incentives that local governments place to discourage, for example, car use and to encourage the greening of the urban environment.