Eco-Urbanism
From lettuces farmed on New York's skyline to thick corridors of trees occupying once desolate Colombian roadsides, green initiatives are running wild in cities around the world. Replanting initiatives have sprouted up since the start of the 21st century as urban development goals have shifted and alarm about global warming has grown. And they've had an impact. Here are a few examples for you:
Gardens by the Bay
The imposing "forest" of giant manmade trees constructed from reinforced concrete and steel, luxuriantly covered in real flora and fauna, is a Singapore landmark. Towering 25 to 50 metres (82 to 164 feet) over the city-state's new business district, the 18 solar-powered supertrees light up the night sky, their canopies looking like flying saucers. The Gardens by the Bay project, awarded the World Building of the Year in 2012, says the idea was to create "a city in a garden".
Brooklyn Grange rooftop farm
With buildings all around, the Statue of Liberty in the distance and heavy traffic below, the Brooklyn Grange rooftop farm grows more than 45 tonnes of organic produce a year. It was launched about a decade ago by friends living in New York who wanted "a small sustainable farm that operated as a business", co-founder Gwen Schantz said. Now covering three rooftops, totalling more than 22,000 square metres (more than 236,000 square feet), the farm cultivates a wide variety of vegetables.
Bosco Verticale
The Bosco Verticale (Vertical Forest) in the heart of Milan sees cherry, apple and olive trees spilling over balconies alongside beeches and larches, selected and positioned according to their resistance to wind and preference for sunlight or humidity. The award-winning project opened in 2014 and, said Simay, is "an indisputable technical feat with an ecosystem function, a large diversity of trees, plants, insects".