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Greening tower blocks for sustainable, brighter living |
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Score
80%
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25 votes,
Feasibility
84%
Originality
72%
Humour
44% |
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The Problem:
Dingy, urban, polluted living.....
The Social Invention:
A scheme involving an environmental charity, an enterprising journalist and a Midlands housing association has shown how tower blocks can be effectively ‘greened’ to create a nicer living environment. Through offering tenants of a tower block in Coventry two free window boxes, filled with plants and compost, the project has transformed an imposing grey block of flats into a brighter, more colourful place to live. As well as changing the look of the tower for the better, the initiative helped create more of a community feeling amongst the residents.
'Almost half of the 120 flats took up the offer of a free window box'The ‘flower block’ project came about through the initiative of a local journalist, Barbara Goulden, who spotted a balcony of colour and greenness in the tower block. Having met up with the high-rise gardener responsible, she got to thinking of the possibilities if five or ten per cent of the tenants were to follow his lead. In collaboration with the environmental charity Groundwork (as part of its sustainable tower blocks initiative) and the local housing association, each tenant was offered the window boxes. Nearly half of the 120 flats in the block took up the offer, with any spares being quickly snapped up by nearby tower blocks. The resultant green, bright and colourful environment has changed the way the residents view their tower block, and the possibilities of making their place of residence more sustainable.
Indeed, the project has been such a success that it is now hoped that it can be rolled out in other areas of the country, wherever the urban landscape is blighted by grey slabs in the skyline. The potential for greening urban architecture on a grand scale is massive, and would encourage greater community feeling, create brighter and nicer places to live, and get people actively involved in sustainable living.
• Groundwork UK, 85-87 Cornwall Street, Birmingham B3 3BY
(tel : 0121 236 8565; fax: 0121 236 7356;
web: Groundwork.org.uk)
Summarised from an article by Chris Arnot, entitled ‘Flower blocks’, in the Guardian (September 4th 2002; Society section).
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