WHAT’S WRONG WITH OUR CITIES

Roof top urban farms bringing back biodiversity to the grey jungle

Well let’s start with what cities have going for them. They are thriving hubs for business and provide copious amounts of opportunities to engage in a vibrant cultural life. They offer convenience having loads of things close by and due to public transport, they are seemingly easy to get to and from. There are heaps of career and job opportunities, education, shopping and dining possibilities and in most cities, there is a real tangible sense of history to marvel at. 

Don’t get me wrong, I love visiting the city and I do admit to getting that certain city buzz when I’m there. However it is short lived, and all too often the grey fog washes over me and I can’t wait to get back to the green hills. 

So, what’s wrong with our cities? 

There are plenty of urban environmental problems with our cities mostly inadequate water supply, waste management, energy production (or lack of), noise and air pollution, the growing urban sprawl to accommodate a growing population and the loss of natural green spaces. 

Generally speaking, cities are an environmental disaster. The desertification and deforestation that occurs as a result of making way for large cities to pop up are a major concern. This then leads to a loss of biodiversity where the native flora and fauna are removed from their natural environment only further exacerbating the problem. I could go on but my real intention for writing this wasn’t to bag cities and to make us all feel woeful, in fact it was the opposite. 

I believe cities of the future can be green havens. 

More importantly, they must be!

We need cities. They are one of our biggest economic drivers, they provide housing, cities are tourist meccas and per square meter they employ large amounts of people.  

But imagine a city of the future. Let’s get up in a helicopter and gaze down on to the big grey concrete jungle. Imagine instead a sea of green mingling between splashes of grey. Rooftop urban gardens producing seasonal food, composting bins in every building suppling nutrients back up to the gardens, bee hives on top of city buildings, flower gardens, walls of green cooling buildings, mini solar and wind farms, zero cars in the city centre making way for bike ways and public transport that is run 100% on renewable energy. Lots and lots of little green patches on top of buildings creating a tapestry of green and vibrancy. 

I hope one day in the very near future we are able to bring the farmer back into the city in a very real way. Creating food gardens on roof tops, street corners, and in parks. Imagine working in a building that the compostable excess food waste is transformed into healthy soil that feeds the food that is later served in a café or restaurant that you dine in for lunch. Healthy, organic food enriching your body.

It’s possible. 

It’s already happening in some cities across the world but we need them to be the norm, not the exception to the rule. We want them on every roof top! 

Biodiversity will increase inviting back plants and animals. The air quality will improve. Noise will be dampened. Buildings and street temperatures will drop, and I suspect the overall ‘stress’ of the city and its inhabitants will drop too. 

The possibilities are endless and I suspect we’re all ready for our cities to go green.