Summer in the city can be hard to bear: The heat builds up within the closed architecture and hardly any wind blows in the streets. Wouldn’t it be nice, if one could enjoy the sunset and a cooling breeze in the evening from a roof garden?
The winter in the city is hard for many as well. Only rarely does a sunbeam reach the lower floors. Wouldn’t it be great if all the tenants of a building had access to their roof?
What are the advantages of communal roof gardens?
For the tenants: More light, more sun, more health – sunshine lifts the mood, makes you more active and prevents illness. It has been proven that lack of daylight leads to an increase in depression and a shift of the human circadian rhythm.
Meeting point roof: A roof garden is an ideal meeting place for all the tenants of a house. Single tenant parties are turned into tenant communities. ( collection
Alternative to the courtyard: Contrary to the usually cramped courtyards (bins, bicycles), where the surrounding walls function as a sound funnel the acoustics are much more favorable on a roof. On the roof you can once again feel the vastness of the sky and see the horizon.
Climatic protection and improvement: The roof is turned into a local recreation spot with lots of available sunlight, and so vehicular travel to distant parks and squares can be spared. For the climate in the city roof gardens would be an improvement, because it increases the amount of greenery in the city, which in turn produces more oxygen and absorbs and releases water.
For the House owners: Lower ‘grey water’ costs: A roof garden reduces the sealed space (water collection (?) space) and therefore lowers the fees paid for ‘grey water’ [run off from roofs, kitchen sinks etc, referred to as ‘grey water’, not sewerage].
Increased value of the accomodation: The housing quality of all apartments is increased by a roof garden .
Better distribution of costs: At the moment the standard procedure is to reconstruct the attics and turn them into apartments for the well-paid. Although rents for lofts/those apartments are much higher than the average, the climatic conditions in most cases are not very good at all: too hot in the summer, too cold in winter and without proper outside walls good insulation can not be achieved. On the other hand, all tenants profit from a roof garden and the costs can be distributed among them.
Lower costs for heating: a roof garden serves as a good insulation and helps save on heating costs.
What are the pre-conditions, which must be created?
Roofs need to be reconstructed to be able to take the load and have to be secured with railings.
Building regulations have to be changed to make creations of roof gardens easier.
Municipalities have to act as role models and equip more public buildings with roof gardens that are accessible to the public.
Common noise protection regulations need to apply for the roofs as well, to guarantee that there is no disturbance to the tenants living on the top floors.
Tax benefits should be granted for the creation of community roof gardens.
Positive effects: