Green roof
A green roof is a roof covering system that integrates living plants, such as grasses, succulents or shrubs, to create an overhead garden.
These roofs offer many advantages:
- They encourage the return of nature to the city by creating islands of biodiversity.
- They provide a natural solution for thermal and acoustic insulation.
- By absorbing a portion of rainwater, green roofs reduce the volume of runoff and the saturation of stormwater networks.
In addition to its functional benefits, a green roof adds an aesthetic dimension to buildings, creating attractive green spaces and potentially increasing property value.
NBS Nature Based Solutions
Nature-based solutions" refer to natural features and processes that enable mankind to respond to various environmental, social and economic challenges. NFS are recognized for their ability to offer multifunctional and sustainable solutions, often at lower cost than so-called "traditional" developments.
In urban environments, for example, nature helps slow global warming thanks to its many benefits:
- Absorb CO2 emissions.
- Create cool islands.
- Reduce the risk of flooding.
Biodiversity conservation:
Well-designed landscapes promote biodiversity by providing habitats and ecological corridors for local flora and fauna, helping to preserve fragile ecosystems and protect endangered species.
Improved air and water quality:
Urban green spaces act as natural filters, absorbing atmospheric pollutants and filtering run-off water, thus helping to reduce pollution and improve air and water quality.
Creating meeting places and social cohesion:
Parks, community gardens and urban green spaces provide leisure and relaxation areas where people can meet, interact and strengthen social ties, thus promoting well-being and social cohesion.
Water management
Rain gardens, green roofs, permeable pavements, filtration basins, wetlands, etc. are all landscaping solutions that can greatly improve rainwater management by integrating natural elements and techniques to capture, retain, purify and infiltrate rainwater.
Rainwater infiltration:
Landscaping features such as vegetated ditches, rain gardens and wetland buffers allow rainwater to infiltrate the soil, reducing runoff and recharging groundwater.
Reduced runoff:
Permeable surfaces such as lawns, parks and gardens absorb rainwater rather than letting it flow directly into storm drains, reducing the need for watering and the creation of underground pipes.
Natural filtration:
Landscaping plants and soils act as natural filters, trapping pollutants and sediments in runoff and improving water quality.
Flood reduction:
By slowing down and retaining rainwater, landscaping can help reduce the risk of flooding by preventing the rapid saturation of storm drains and limiting the overflow of watercourses.
Permeable coatings
The use of permeable pavements in the design of outdoor spaces offers numerous environmental and urban advantages, the main ones being :
- Stormwater management: reducing runoff, recharging groundwater, filtering pollutants.
- Reducing urban heat islands.
- Durability and reduced maintenance requirements.
- Contributing to biodiversity.
Automatic watering
Automatic watering of green spaces has evolved considerably in recent years, becoming more rational and efficient thanks to a number of technological innovations and a better understanding of plants' water requirements.
These main innovations are :
- Use of humidity sensors to water at the right time and with the right quantities of water.
- Intelligent, centralized management of irrigation systems, connected to real-time weather data.
- Drip irrigation to limit water evaporation and runoff.
- Irrigation zoning to adapt watering to the specific needs of each zone, thus reducing water wastage.
- Recycling and using rainwater to reduce dependence on drinking water networks.
- Leak detection technology to identify anomalies in water flow and repair leaks as quickly as possible.