Deforestation and pollution have become a serious trouble and are even more of a concern in big cities with the air quality being constantly deteriorated by the fumes from vehicles and industries. And while the pollution is increasing, the green cover required to combat is decreasing, mainly to clear space for human settlement. Hence, our cities are turning into concrete jungles with the quality of air decreasing, thus increasing the chance of a variety of diseases. To combat this a new idea has been developed by builders and architects around the world, Vertical Forest or a Treescraper! It consists of a building which is based on an integration of modern architecture along with planting of trees and plants to create a green space.
The Vertical Forest has trees and plants to absorb Carbon Dioxide and Suspended Particulate Matter(SPM), which helps in reducing smog while creating a buffer to dampen the noise pollution, and are believed to lessen the heating effect around the building and in the area nearby because of transpiration from the trees and plants thus providing a cool environment upto an extent which translates to lesser energy consumption. A single building can be beneficial for the surrounding area, and in the current scenario where demands for space is growing, this can be a healthy compromise between sustainability and productivity.
Following the concept, Italian firm Stefano Boeri Architetti designed a Vertical Forest building which has won them multiple innovation and design awards, like second place in Emporis Skyscraper Award and also came first in the Best Tall Building Worldwide, decided by a jury from The Council on Tall Buildings And Urban Habitat. What makes this so special is that the treescrapers beat some great iconic buildings like 1 World Trade Center, NYC. This does mark the change in perception and want for sustainable and environment friendly buildings.
According to the designer and architect Stefano Boeri, the added greenery serves as a way to redefine the urban space. In his own words, “It is a model of vertical densification of nature within the city.” And it can be considered dense, as the two Vertical Forest towers, one 256-foot and the other 344-foot, are covered from top to bottom by more than 700 trees and 90 species of plants. For perspective, if all the trees and plants were planted on a single piece of land, the forest will take an area of about two acres more or less.
And now with China’s announcement that it will be using the services of Stefano Boeri to build at least two Vertical Forest towers in Nanjing to combat the worrisome air pollution present in China. The project has an estimated completion time of 2018 and initial reports suggest that each building will be able to absorb upto 25 kg of Carbon Dioxide and give out 60 kgs of Oxygen in a year.
Arun Swaminathan, Bengaluru based Environment Architect and Academician said, “Creating vertical gardens is the need of the hour in India. Particularly architects, engineers and developers and political leaders, of course, should look at green buildings as an alternative. It starts from your balcony itself. At the same time, we should keep planting more trees because there is no replacement for trees .”
With such announcements coming from around the world, it remains to be seen if a similar model of Vertical Forest can be built in our metropolitans, namely Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru where pollution is wreaking havoc. However the high cost of developing may not deem it as a profitable venture for our debt ridden developers who try every antic to decrease the cost, Also to make a considerable effect in the pollution levels around the cities, quite a few of these buildings will need to be designed, and with their set of challenges to work upon.
Durgesh Agrahari, head of partnerships and projects at Bengaluru based SayTrees Environmental Trust said,”It is one way of creating vertical gardens. In India, another way is to create gardens around flyover pillars. Shrubs and bushes which also act as dust absorbents will be used. It will also clean the environment. We do not have much space in cities and old trees are being cut across the country. To ensure a green cover in the city itself, we would focus on walls of buildings and pillars. However, initial costs of installation would be expensive but it is worth it”
Hence this project may not see the light of the day in a few years in our cities. However let’s hope for a greener future for that is the only sustainable way in long run!
Recent Posts
[wptelegram-join-channel link=”https://t.me/s/upsctree” text=”Join @upsctree on Telegram”]2021 WEF Global Gender Gap report, which confirmed its 2016 finding of a decline in worldwide progress towards gender parity.
Over 2.8 billion women are legally restricted from having the same choice of jobs as men. As many as 104 countries still have laws preventing women from working in specific jobs, 59 countries have no laws on sexual harassment in the workplace, and it is astonishing that a handful of countries still allow husbands to legally stop their wives from working.
Globally, women’s participation in the labour force is estimated at 63% (as against 94% of men who participate), but India’s is at a dismal 25% or so currently. Most women are in informal and vulnerable employment—domestic help, agriculture, etc—and are always paid less than men.
Recent reports from Assam suggest that women workers in plantations are paid much less than men and never promoted to supervisory roles. The gender wage gap is about 24% globally, and women have lost far more jobs than men during lockdowns.
The problem of gender disparity is compounded by hurdles put up by governments, society and businesses: unequal access to social security schemes, banking services, education, digital services and so on, even as a glass ceiling has kept leadership roles out of women’s reach.
Yes, many governments and businesses had been working on parity before the pandemic struck. But the global gender gap, defined by differences reflected in the social, political, intellectual, cultural and economic attainments or attitudes of men and women, will not narrow in the near future without all major stakeholders working together on a clear agenda—that of economic growth by inclusion.
The WEF report estimates 135 years to close the gap at our current rate of progress based on four pillars: educational attainment, health, economic participation and political empowerment.
India has slipped from rank 112 to 140 in a single year, confirming how hard women were hit by the pandemic. Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only two Asian countries that fared worse.
Here are a few things we must do:
One, frame policies for equal-opportunity employment. Use technology and artificial intelligence to eliminate biases of gender, caste, etc, and select candidates at all levels on merit. Numerous surveys indicate that women in general have a better chance of landing jobs if their gender is not known to recruiters.
Two, foster a culture of gender sensitivity. Take a review of current policies and move from gender-neutral to gender-sensitive. Encourage and insist on diversity and inclusion at all levels, and promote more women internally to leadership roles. Demolish silos to let women grab potential opportunities in hitherto male-dominant roles. Work-from-home has taught us how efficiently women can manage flex-timings and productivity.
Three, deploy corporate social responsibility (CSR) funds for the education and skilling of women and girls at the bottom of the pyramid. CSR allocations to toilet building, the PM-Cares fund and firms’ own trusts could be re-channelled for this.
Four, get more women into research and development (R&D) roles. A study of over 4,000 companies found that more women in R&D jobs resulted in radical innovation. It appears women score far higher than men in championing change. If you seek growth from affordable products and services for low-income groups, women often have the best ideas.
Five, break barriers to allow progress. Cultural and structural issues must be fixed. Unconscious biases and discrimination are rampant even in highly-esteemed organizations. Establish fair and transparent human resource policies.
Six, get involved in local communities to engage them. As Michael Porter said, it is not possible for businesses to sustain long-term shareholder value without ensuring the welfare of the communities they exist in. It is in the best interest of enterprises to engage with local communities to understand and work towards lowering cultural and other barriers in society. It will also help connect with potential customers, employees and special interest groups driving the gender-equity agenda and achieve better diversity.