Creating greenery
Adding green to rooftops, walls and streets
Adding green to rooftops, walls and the gaps of the city is itself a major value of farms — improving the landscape, easing the heat-island effect and offering psychological calm.
347 related cases
Cases where this shows up
Umeda Honeybee Project
JPOsaka, Japan
Launched Osaka's first urban beekeeping on the rooftop of the Yanmar Building in Umeda's Chayamachi district in March 2010. Rather than honey itself, its aim is promoting local greening through bee pollination and providing food and environmental education. It has expanded with an experience-based apiary in Hattori Ryokuchi park.
u-mitsubachi.com+1
UW Biodiversity Green Wall & Edible Green Screen
USSeattle, United States
A demonstration completed in fall 2012 that turned two concrete walls at the University of Washington's Gould Hall into urban habitat, combining a biodiversity green wall, an edible green screen, and rainwater harvesting. Roof-collected rainwater irrigates hop and kiwi vines, demonstrating reduced energy use, heat-island mitigation, and increased urban biodiversity.
sustainability.uw.edu+1
Sobuj Dhaka Rooftop Gardens
BDDhaka, Bangladesh
A rooftop greening and urban agriculture program run by Bangladesh's agriculture extension agency to green and feed the dense city of Dhaka
unb.com.bd+1
Ginza Honey Bee Project
JPTokyo, Japan
A citizen project keeping bees on Ginza rooftops to make urban green networks visible. Linked to rooftop gardens and local food culture, it helped spark urban beekeeping across Japan.
gin-pachi.jp
Roppongi Hills Rooftop Garden Rice Paddy & Vegetable Field
JPMinato, Tokyo, Japan
A rooftop paddy and field in Mori Building's Roppongi Hills where, for over 20 years, residents and workers and their children have planted and harvested rice. A pioneering case embedding a Japanese agricultural landscape and community activity within a high-rise mixed-use development.
mori.co.jp+2
Azabudai Hills Central Plaza Orchard, Edible Garden & Urban Beekeeping
JPMinato, Tokyo, Japan
An orchard, edible garden and urban beekeeping programme within the large green spaces of Azabudai Hills (opened 2023). An ~200 sqm orchard grows 11 fruit species plus herbs and edible plants; children's honey harvests and greening workshops connect residents, workers and citizens to food and farming in the city centre.
azabudai-hills.com+2
Supporting research
Using constructed soils for green infrastructure – challenges and limitations
This review examines the use of Constructed Technosols (CTs), mixtures of organic and mineral waste, for green infrastructure (GI) in urban spaces. While CTs have high potential to provide multiple soil functions and contribute to urban greening, urban soils are often physically, chemically, or biologically unsuitable for GI features. The analysis suggests that the composition and structure of CTs should be adapted to available wastes and by-products, as well as future land use and environmental conditions, highlighting the need for careful design to overcome existing limitations.
Maha Deeb, Peter M. Groffman, Manuel Blouin et al. · 2020 · SOIL
Effectiveness of plants and green infrastructure utilization in ambient particulate matter removal
This review presents the effectiveness of plants and green infrastructure in ambient particulate matter (PM) removal. It describes the mechanisms of PM capture by plants and factors influencing PM reduction in the atmosphere. The review refers to the effectiveness of plant utilization in various forms of green infrastructure, including trees, grasslands, green roofs, living walls, water reservoirs, and urban farming. Additionally, methods to increase PM removal by plants, such as species selection, biodiversity increase, PAH-degrading phyllospheric endophytes, transgenic plants, and microorganisms, are presented.
K. Wróblewska, Byoung Ryong Jeong · 2021 · Environmental Sciences Europe
Urban liveability, health and wellbeing are intricately linked to large, quality, biodiverse green spaces, not densification
This article discusses the long-standing debate on whether cities can be both dense and green, noting that some cities have achieved both. It questions whether densification is the sole driver of declines in urban green space and proposes deepening the debate by considering eight other dimensions of urban greening. The article also mentions compact urban greening forms like vertical gardens and green roofs, but states that most are poor surrogates for large, connected, biodiverse green spaces.
Charlie M. Shackleton, Nanamhla Gwedla, Jessica P. R. Thorn · 2026 · Frontiers in Sustainable Cities
Guerrilla gardening and green activism: Rethinking the informal urban growing movement
Reviews informal urban-growing (guerrilla gardening) practices across Europe, North America and Africa, showing how in Salford, UK, local authorities have begun tolerating and even encouraging informal growing. It rethinks how a movement of residents greening and growing food on gap spaces and vacant land without permission can be integrated into urban planning and green-space policy.
Hardman M., Chipungu L., Magidimisha H. et al. · 2018 · Landscape and Urban Planning, 170:6-14