March/April 2008

Current Issue:

Planning for Rooftops: The Benefits of Green Roof Infrastructure

By Peter Lowitt, AICP, and Steven Peck

Fly over any urban area and you are greeted by a familiar sight: a sea of asphalt and black roofing. To planners and green roof advocates, this represents a missed opportunity. Greening the city core is a very real possibility if we can imagine all those rooftops supporting vegetation; addressing a multitude of urban issues, such as stormwater management, air quality improvement, urban agriculture, and reduction of the urban heat island effect; and providing many other benefits as well. Let's examine how planners can shape an underutilized resource, our rooftops, into an important part of a community's green infrastructure.

In recent years, the issue of sustainability has come to the forefront of global awareness. Green building techniques have played an increasingly prominent role in the planner's toolbox, and well they should. In the United States, commercial and residential buildings account for some staggering statistics, including 65 percent of the nation's electrical consumption, 36 percent of total energy usage, and 30 percent of total greenhouse gas emissions generated annually.

As planners work to change the future landscape of our cities, this shift to green buildings can help usher in a more sustainable urban form. In order to be effective, however, sustainable buildings must deliver a multitude of restorative benefits, such as cleaner air and water, renewable energy, and healthy indoor air quality, all while remaining competitive with traditional buildings in the cost of building and operations. Green roofs and supportive policies are important components of achieving these objectives.

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