The Haifa 2030 Administration recently inaugurated its first hydroponic plant-growing roof, to be operated by graduates of the first training course for local residents
Over the past year, when we spent more time at home than outside, it became clear how vital open space, fresh air and green nature are for all of us. Sometimes this year, because of various movement restrictions imposed on us, what green we saw was reduced to a tree or two. It was during this year that the Haifa 2030 Administration promoted a groundbreaking community-research project designed to open a fifth façade to the city – green roofs.
Cucumbers on the roof
For the first time, the municipality has established a hydroponic plant growing system on the roof of the city’s Resident Service Center building (11, Hassan Shukri St.) and inaugurated its first community-operated green roof. The roof was planned in cooperation with the University of Haifa’s Kadas Green Roofs Ecology Research Center, and the local community in Hadar will maintain the garden.
In February, 30 residents of the trendy, yet neglected Hadar neighborhood began the first city-run training course for green roofers. Due to the high demand for registration, the plan is to open more courses in other neighborhoods in cooperation with the community workers who will run the project under the Administration’s guidance. Graduates of the first course are also invited to volunteer meetings and training sessions that will help them deepen their knowledge about growing food on a roof or balcony.
They will also help to cultivate and maintain the Resident Service Center roof, and participate in choosing and planting new vegetation. The municipality is offering the roof for cooperative agricultural activity to encourage urban agriculture, sustainable nutrition and a circular economy. And a second research roof is currently being erected on top of City Hall. Now the city is mapping all the municipal buildings deemed suitable for gardens of vegetables and edible plants that will serve local residents if they are actively involved.
Signing the convention was an opening shot in an overall urban program for dealing with the climate crisis that the municipality is currently working on. One important component is foresting built-up urban space.
Trees in the city have many virtues – shady streets encourage outdoor activity throughout the year, with the health benefits of outdoor activity and reduction of air pollution due to reduced vehicle use. A shady area also reduces harmful exposure to the sun and heat load. While streets, squares and playgrounds can also be shaded by other means such as pergolas and shade nets, trees in themselves have many other advantages: they absorb carbon dioxide, emit oxygen into the atmosphere, provide habitats for a variety of animals and lower noise levels in the city.
In addition, studies have shown that the presence of trees improves our mood and reduces the effects of crime, vandalism, graffiti, littering and violence. And in terms of the city’s appearance, trees’ contribution is evident. They mask neglected facades, beautify a street and shape its identity
Moran Ben Zvi, 33, a social worker from Hadar and participant in the inaugural course, says it has been “an inspiration” for her.
“The Green Roof project has brought together people with a common interest in urban ecology and became a vital meeting place after the corona outbreak, to do something together. Growing vegetables is not the only purpose – there are also tremendous social advantages,” she says.
“After the lectures – which were really interesting – now we’re at the hands-on stage. We’re learning how to operate and maintain the hydroponic system.”
Many studies have demonstrated the close relationship between physical and mental health, and a green environment’s cultivation by residents. A study by the University of Exeter in the UK, published in the journal Landscape and Planning Urban, demonstrated how gardening improves the health and wellbeing of active gardeners.
The fifth façade
Green roofs – roofs that are partially or fully covered with plants or crops – produce both ecological and economic advantages, as well as aesthetic benefits. The vegetation-bearing roofs have a waterproofing membrane that protects the structure and a growing medium infrastructure that allows efficient use of nutrients and water. They can range from intensive vegetable-cultivating spaces to publicly accessible gardens – and don’t intrude on essential land.
They are beneficial to both the community and the environment, as the plants absorb carbon dioxide and emit oxygen, thereby improving air quality in the urban environment. A green roof means improved thermal insulation, indoor climate and noise absorption (acoustic insulation), while the protected roof sealing enables utilization of rainwater for irrigation, moderates its flow into the municipal drainage system and thus helps prevent flooding.
Gardens on the roofs of public and private buildings in the city (the “fifth façade”) increase the green lung in the public space, thereby contributing to the environment, enhancing the city’s appearance and reducing the “urban heat island” phenomenon.
The use of green roofs corresponds with the Permaculture approach that emphasizes the connection between the environment, community and urban agriculture, and strives to achieve a sustainable balance between them. Haifa’s new system is a demonstration model that enables its users to learn how home farming can produce vegetables for family consumption, by simple and available means, on any roof or balcony.
The Haifa 2030 Administration is examining how to do this elsewhere in Israel and around the world, and intends to create an orderly urban process that will define the incentives, regulations, engineering and legal aspects. For this purpose, it is conducting a professional review in conjunction with the Israeli Green Building Council.
Looking forward, the authority plans to characterize the suitability of every municipal property for a green roof according to criteria such as public accessibility, the need to improve the building’s insulation and energy efficiency, carpentry requirements, and educational/communal aspects.
Other facets to be decided on include what types of crops are suitable (food, spices, etc.), whether to use the whole roof, to incorporate seating and integrate photovoltaics – as well as the budgeting considerations of construction, maintenance and monitoring.
At the same time, implementing green rooftops on private properties such as residential buildings presents further challenges, including the building’s physical suitability, residents’ awareness, the economic burden on residents (if any) and neighbors’ commitment to ongoing maintenance. This can only be achieved by involving the local community, and actively encouraging communities with incentives and regulation policies for green roof construction.
This novel ecological project will serve as an exemplary example of sustainable urban agriculture in Haifa, mirroring similar developments in cities such as Paris, London and Barcelona.
One key to the project’s success is getting otherwise uninterested residents involved.
“Once a few roof gardens are operating and a precedent set, others will follow,” says Ben Zvi.
“Most participants in the course are renters rather than home-owners. One of the things we’ve learned in the course is how to communicate with our neighbors. We’re breaking into small teams, each acting in its own little corner rather than as a group. Not everyone has a roof and not every roof is suitable – but there are many roofs in this neighbourhood…
“Come back here in ten years and you’ll see rooftop gardens abundant with vegetables within the community,” Ben Zvi predicts. “We residents won’t have to travel to buy much of our food. I envisage bartering produce between the rooftops so everyone will have enough. That’s the way the world is going.”
Gardens on the roofs of public and private buildings in the city (the “fifth façade”) increase the green lung in the public space, thereby contributing to the environment, enhancing the city’s appearance and reducing the “urban heat island” phenomenon.
The use of green roofs corresponds with the Permaculture approach that emphasizes the connection between the environment, community and urban agriculture, and strives to achieve a sustainable balance between them. Haifa’s new system is a demonstration model that enables its users to learn how home farming can produce vegetables for family consumption, by simple and available means, on any roof or balcony.
The Haifa 2030 Administration is examining how to do this elsewhere in Israel and around the world, and intends to create an orderly urban process that will define the incentives, regulations, engineering and legal aspects. For this purpose, it is conducting a professional review in conjunction with the Israeli Green Building Council.
Looking forward, the authority plans to characterize the suitability of every municipal property for a green roof according to criteria such as public accessibility, the need to improve the building’s insulation and energy efficiency, carpentry requirements, and educational/communal aspects.
