Experiencing Green Infrastructure Up-close
The City of Melbourne has created a moveable green wall so residents can experience green infrastructure up close and learn of its multiple benefits.
Plan Melbourne 2017–2050 is the city’s planning strategy that defines the future shape of Melbourne. The plan sets out the strategy for supporting jobs and growth, while building on Melbourne’s distinctiveness, liveability, and sustainability. A key aspect of the plan is the central role green infrastructure will play in creating more liveable and climate-adapted communities. The plan recognises the urban heat island effect, the role of climate change, and the benefits of urban greening as well as the challenges of greening a rapidly growing city that will also become denser.
Green Wall on the Go
To share knowledge about green infrastructure, the City of Melbourne has constructed a moveable green wall made up of native grassland species.
Green walls are vertical structures designed to support living plants on the outside of a building. The plant roots are embedded in the structure in a medium such as soil or substrate. Green walls are typically implemented alongside green roofs and green facades. Overall, green walls provide a variety of benefits, including reducing the urban heat island effect, helping manage stormwater runoff, reducing energy consumption in buildings, noise reduction, improving local air quality, and improving mental health and well-being.
The wall is moved to different locations around the city to expose people to green walls, how they work, and the multiple benefits they provide. In addition, city representatives will demonstrate how to install and maintain the wall and share this information with people who are considering including green walls in their own buildings.
To create the green wall, the following process was undertaken:
1. It took 3 months to establish 24 modules of Melbourne native plant species: Each module is lined with a special material and filled with a substrate that will suit these plants perfectly. Young plants are then planted into the modules while they are flat on the ground
2. As the plants grow, the modules are tilted slowly to vertical: This process ensures that the plants are strong enough to sustain themselves when they are placed vertically on a building
3. Wall is ready: Wall is ready to be installed
4. Installation: The green wall modules have now been installed on an independent steel frame against the Coburg Library wall (see photo above)
5. Impact: Thermal imagery shows the cooling impact of plants on the green wall
The take-out
Green infrastructure demonstration projects illustrate their feasibility and showcase the multiple benefits they provide to communities.
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