The Hort Frontiers Green Cities Fund was established to investigate and confirm the benefits of urban greening, and then conveying those messages to the wider community. Vegetables Australia spoke to Hort Innovation Head of Research and Development Byron de Kock about the latest project under the Fund, which resulted in a free online resource being released to the public.

With the Australian urban population increasing, and the health benefits of green space becoming clearer, urban developers and governments are becoming increasingly interested in creating greener communities.

However, the impact of green space in a range of environments needs further research. To address this, Hort Innovation developed the Green Cities Fund to help uncover science-based answers to these questions and inform business decisions regarding urban development.

The Fund brings together a range of partners to research and demonstrate the benefits of increased urban greening. One of the recently completed projects is DIY laneway greening – simplifying vertical greening at a community level (GC17002), which has produced a new community-focused resource designed to help urban dwellers go green.

Growing green

Hort Innovation Head of Research and Development Byron de Kock described urban greening as ‘more plants in cities.’

“Traditionally, we would associate urban greening with our traditional parks that include trees, garden beds and turf areas. That’s traditional green infrastructure that most of us know,” Mr de Kock said.

“Then you can extend it to include streetscapes – for example, in a normal suburb, that’d be just planting street trees. But now, with the higher density planning and houses and unit blocks, some of those opportunities are diminished, so we need to invest in vertical greening (going up the sides of buildings) and green roofs.”

‘It’s time to grow up’ is a free online resource developed by researchers at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS). The greening tool simplifies vertical greening (or green walls) with an aim to encourage the community to help bridge the gap between fragmented urban habitats and nature.

The resource is aimed at groups such as urban communities or body corporates. It contains guidelines relating to the planning, designing and managing of green walls within community spaces, with information including the types of plants that work best; the green wall systems best suited to common scenarios; how to work within a DIY budget; the benefits of green walls; how to address potential barriers and more. In some cases, it would also depend on the approvals that are required (for example, local council or landlord).

“This website is a terrific resource community groups or body corporates can use,” Mr de Kock said.

A double-sided Junglefy Breathing Wall™ that was implemented by North Sydney Council. This is the front of the wall, located next to the Pacific Highway in St Leonards. Images courtesy of Junglefy.

At-home veggie patch

The ‘It’s time to grow up’ concept is not just for non-edible horticulture such as plants and turf. Fresh produce, such as vegetables, can also be grown using the design make-ups outlined in the resource.

“The traditional green wall is where you just have a creeper growing up a wall, but there are options where you have a plant-to-pot system that you would install on a framework or a scaffold. You can easily grow vegetables in such systems,” Mr de Kock said.

“It would be a great way for people in cities to grow their own vegetables and get a feel for how good it is to enjoy fresh produce. And that’s only going to be a good thing for vegetable growers, because they’ll never be able to grow enough for their whole year’s supply.

“I think it will really promote the value of fresh produce and motivate people to buy more vegetables. The vegetable levy payers and our growers around the country will benefit from an increased appreciation of vegetables.”

Health benefits

Researchers have discovered that plant-based systems such as green walls helped to mitigate poor urban air quality, provided acoustic insulation and helped with thermal regulation, thereby reducing the ‘urban island effect’. An urban heat island is an urban area that is significant warmer than nearby suburban and rural areas.

“It has proven that both turf and trees will reduce the ‘urban island effect’ when they’re in place. A bare patch or concrete or bitumen areas can be 12 degrees hotter than under a tree,” Mr de Kock said.

“There’s also the air quality benefits – the lead researcher from UTS, Dr Peter Irga, has confirmed some of the pollution reduction benefits of urban greening. Plants take out some of the pollution that can be harmful to us.

“There are a number of beneficial factors and if people are growing veggies, that’s even better! The beauty of horticulture is that there’s nothing bad about anything that we grow.”

Green walls not only enable the presence of nature but also allow people to connect with nature as they build, plant and maintain these living systems, which in turn can have a positive impact on mental health.

Junglefy designed and constructed the Junglefy Breathing Wall™ in a central hub of the office to give all staff access to plants, including those not located near a window.

Next steps

The Hort Frontiers Green Cities Fund is currently formalising the next iteration of its projects and identifying the knowledge gaps that need to be addressed.

“This project has just finished, and we’ve got about three other investments that are still going and probably will finish in about 18 months to two years,” Mr de Kock said.

“A key aspect of the Green Cities R&D program to date has been to confirm scientifically the benefits of urban greening – benefits most of us appreciate instinctively. It has been great to see the science confirming our instincts are right – plants in cities are good for us!”

Find out more

To check out the green wall resources and start your green wall project, please visit itstimetogrowup.com.au.

For further information or to submit an idea for a future project, contact Hort Innovation Head of Research and Development Byron de Kock on 0417 622 773 or email byron.dekock@horticulture.com.au. More can also be found at hortfrontiers.com.au/green-cities-fund.

This project has been funded by the Hort Frontiers Green Cities Fund, part of the Hort Frontiers strategic partnership initiative developed by Hort Innovation, with funding from the University of Technology Sydney and contributions from the Australian Government.

Project Number: GC17002

This article first appeared in the winter 2020 edition of  Vegetables Australia. Click here to read the full publication.