Increased exposure to heatwaves amplifies the adverse economic impacts on industries that are reliant on the health of their outdoor workers. This is in addition to the extreme heat-related fatalities and health-care costs of heatwave-related medical emergencies. As a PwC report to the Commonwealth on extreme heat events stated:
Some 60% of the planet’s expected urban area by 2030 is yet to be built. This forecast highlights how rapidly the world’s people are becoming urban. Cities now occupy about 2% of the world’s land area, but are home to about 55% of the world’s people and generate more than 70% of global GDP, plus the associated greenhouse gas emissions.
Global Emissions
Natural capital can be defined as the world’s stocks of natural assets which include geology, soil, air, water and all living things.
Image: SYDNEY GREEN ROOF by VERDANT SOLUTIONS AUSTRALIA
Green infrastructure refers to standalone and strategically networked environmental features designed for environmental, social and economic benefits. Examples include permeable surfaces, green walls, green roofs and street trees.
During the summer of 2019-20 Australia was burning with devestation to the natural environment; wildlife species & habitat; air & water quality; increases in UHI effects; communities and the economy.
A number of lampposts in Belgravia have recently been fitted with plant columns running up their length. It’s a trial to see if the green columns can help reduce pollution along the streets.
The Smart Pillar, which has been developed by Scotscape and Greenwich University, takes the concept of ‘vertical greening’, as seen on living walls, one step further.
Biophilic design (design features that reconnect people with nature) help reduce stress in the workplace & home. In an ideal world every interior & flat rooftop will have either a green wall or green roof to compensate for the lack of contact with nature that is a reality for many urban dwellers in 2020.
Such amenities are in line with scientific and psychological theories about humans’ intrinsic need for exposure to natural environments — a disposition known as biophilia.
Rain can fall through a cut-out in the concave roof of this London house extension by Tonkin Liu, animating a shallow pool of water beneath.
