Using Vertical Greening to
Combat Air Pollution
Next Generation Technologies
Plants for Ecosystem Services
www.marklaurence.com
“We cannot solve a problem using
the same level of consciousness that
created it”
Albert Einstein
www.marklaurence.com
my background
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Originator and Co-Founder Biotecture
Sustainable Landscape Designer
Arboriculturalist
Landscape Contractor
Aquatic Landscape Specialist
Plantsman
Nurseryman
www.marklaurence.com
www.marklaurence.com
www.marklaurence.com
www.marklaurence.com
www.marklaurence.com
reasons for urban greening
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World will be 80% urbanised by 2050
Increasing levels of air pollution
Urban Heat Island effect
Thermal insulation of buildings
Water biofiltration and stormwater management
Urban ecology and biodiversity
Sound attenuation
Positive urban psychology – Biophilia
Effects of climate change, erratic weather
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green façades – climbing plants
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what we know now
• UK cities cannot meet EU and WHO air quality
standards
• Some plants/leaf types are better than others
at capturing dust and particulates
• Particulate capture is greater at 4-5m height
• Trees can actually hinder the removal of pm10
when placed in urban canyons
• Green walls are significantly better than green
roofs at removing particulates
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particulate deposition
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www.marklaurence.com
leaf types
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Glaucous: Covered with a whitish powder or waxy coating.
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Farinose: Covered with a meal-like powder or minute particles.
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Scurfy: Covered with small scalelike particles.
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Viscid (Viscous): Covered with sticky or resinous secretion.
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Glutinous: About the same as viscid.
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Punctate: Dotted with minute pits or translucent dots.
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Papillate (Papillose): Bearing minute, pimplelike protuberances.
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Tuberculate: Bearing tubercles or warty protuberances.
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Verrucose: About the same as tuberculate.
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Rugose: Wrinkled--typical leaves of the mint family (Lamiaceae).
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Glabrous: Without hairs of any kind.
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Pubescent: With a hairy surface--there are many kinds of hairiness.
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leaf types
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Glaucous: Covered with a whitish powder or waxy coating.
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Farinose: Covered with a meal-like powder or minute particles.
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Scurfy: Covered with small scalelike particles.
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Viscid (Viscous): Covered with sticky or resinous secretion.
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Glutinous: About the same as viscid.
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Punctate: Dotted with minute pits or translucent dots.
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Papillate (Papillose): Bearing minute, pimplelike protuberances.
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Tuberculate: Bearing tubercles or warty protuberances.
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Verrucose: About the same as tuberculate
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Rugose: Wrinkled--typical leaves of the mint family (Lamiaceae)
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Glabrous: Without hairs of any kind.
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Pubescent: With a hairy surface--there are many kinds of hairiness:
www.marklaurence.com
leaf types
From: The role of shrubs and perennials in the capture and
mitigation of particulate air pollution (PM10) in London.
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Shackleton,
Glaucous: Covered with a whitish powder or waxyKyle
coating.
Hannah Smith, Linda Davies, Nigel Bell.
Centre for Environmental Policy, Imperial College London
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Farinose: Covered with a meal-like powder or minute particles.
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Scurfy: Covered with small scalelike particles.
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Viscid (Viscous): Covered with sticky or resinous secretion.
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Glutinous: About the same as viscid.
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Punctate: Dotted with minute pits or translucent dots.
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Papillate (Papillose): Bearing minute, pimplelike protuberances.
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Tuberculate: Bearing tubercles or warty protuberances.
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Verrucose: About the same as tuberculate
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Rugose: Wrinkled--typical leaves of the mint family (Lamiaceae)
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Glabrous: Without hairs of any kind.
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Pubescent: With a hairy surface--there are many kinds of hairiness:
www.marklaurence.com
leaf types
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Glaucous: Covered with a whitish powder or waxy coating.
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Farinose: Covered with a meal-like powder or minute particles.
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Scurfy: Covered with small scalelike particles.
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Viscid (Viscous): Covered with sticky or resinous secretion.
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Glutinous: About the same as viscid.
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Punctate: Dotted with minute pits or translucent dots.
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Papillate (Papillose): Bearing minute, pimplelike protuberances.
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Tuberculate: Bearing tubercles or warty protuberances.
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Verrucose: About the same as tuberculate
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Rugose: Wrinkled--typical leaves of the mint family (Lamiaceae)
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Glabrous: Without hairs of any kind.
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Pubescent: With a hairy surface--there are many kinds of hairiness:
www.marklaurence.com
What we can do now
• Reduce emissions – no brainer
• Plant trees and shrubs – in the less urban
places and in the right manner
• Use green roofs of a more intensive nature
• Reduce grass, increase planted areas
• Implement VERTICAL GREENING on a LARGE
SCALE
• Create greater permeability, use rain gardens
www.marklaurence.com
www.marklaurence.com
what prevents implementation?
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Perception/acceptance of the need
Cost!
Confidence that the solutions work
Insufficient peer-reviewed studies on benefits
Lack of government funding and incentives
Low commercial buy-in to systems and
solutions
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airflow is complicated
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what we need to do
• Extensive research on effective plants and
systems
• Development of third generation vertical
greening systems
• Considered planting of trees, shrubs and
perennials to account for climate change
• Move all building and infrastructural services
to cyclical systems (plus economic, political and
financial systems)
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cyclical systems
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www.marklaurence.com
trees – design strategy
Right tree in the right place
Less trees in urban canyons
More trees in open/suburban areas
Increase the average planted tree life (less
than 10 years)
• Turn parks into forest gardens to give food
value
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www.marklaurence.com
vertical greening – design strategy
• Greater use of extensive (façade) systems
• Increase use of “conventional” green walls in high
visibility/public interaction areas
• Production of third-generation systems specifically
designed to:
– Reduce £/m² by 50%
– Increase efficiency of particulate removal
– Increase the range of plants that can be used
• Extensive monitoring and testing for results
www.marklaurence.com
www.marklaurence.com
building
biomembrane
• Building surfaces
will become living
skins providing
ecosystem services
• Adding depth via
retrofit design will
be a cost effective
way to create
biomembranes
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looking forward
• Intelligent use of the Ecosystem Services that
plants provide will become the norm
• Plants will be extensively used to lower fossil
fuel consumption
• Plants will clean building waste via a “Building
Biomembrane” design strategy
• Systems will move from linear to cyclical
• Green wall systems will become multiple and
cost-effective, tailored for specific results
www.marklaurence.com
www.marklaurence.com
www.marklaurence.com
Mark Laurence Design Ltd
+44 (0) 1243 533545
[email protected]
Twitter: @verticalgreener
www.marklaurence.com