Photo via StudioInvisible.

A version of this post was originally published in Portuguese on TheCityFix Brasil by Maria Fernanda Cavalcanti on March 2, 2012.

The architectural firm StudioInvisible is drawing inspiration from the hanging gardens of Babylon to reimagine Beirut as a giant green park when viewed from a bird’s eye view. The project, Wonder Beirut Forest, covers the top of every building with plants and trees, giving new life to a city whose local greenery have been destroyed due to a tumultuous history of bombings.

Architects began to campaign on Facebook with the possibility of approving a law that would provide for the installation of a garden on the roof of each building. As an incentive, the city would offer tax breaks for the condominiums to care for a roof garden, and gardening companies would offer discounts for maintenance.

Beirut’s high levels of air pollution and ash inspired the project. Currently, the Lebanese capital relies only on a large wooded area—Sanayeh Park—for clean air. Today, Beirut only has 0.8 square meters of green space per person, well below the internationally recommended 12 square meters per person. ”If only one tree is planted on each building, there would be 18,500 more trees in the city. That would be the equivalent of Central Park in New York,” said Wassim Melki of StudioInvisible.

In addition to improving air quality, the large roof garden proposed by the architectural firm would provide shade and safe public community spaces. The gardens would also reduce energy consumption in buildings during the increasingly hot and arid summer climate. In addition, green roofs can shelter plants that grow well in the region, such as olives, pepper plants and vegetables that tend to evolve into a kind of urban agriculture, and thus would add to the local economy.

A bird's-eye view image of Beirut visualizes the city before and after the project's implementation. Photo via StudioInvisible.

Photo via StudioInvisible.

A new study finds green roofs can absorb 30 percent of the rainfall that land on them, curbing storm water runoff. Photo by Eveliz Vega Marzan.

Welcome to “Research Recap,” our series highlighting recent reports, studies and other findings in sustainable transportation policy and practice, in case you missed it.

Green Roof Benefits

Green roofs are a cost-effective way to reduce storm water runoff, cool the atmosphere and save energy, according to a new study by Stuart Gaffin of Columbia University’s Center for Climate Systems Research. Gaffin measured the amount of energy entering and leaving New York City’s Con Edison Green Roof and found that the roof retains roughly 30 percent of the rainwater that falls on it. The study also found that, with all financial costs considered, it costs the equivalent of two cents per year to capture one gallon of water using green roofs.

Climate Change Adaptation

Five research teams were awarded a total of C$12.5 million (US$12.8 million) to study climate change adaptation, specifically how to best protect people, communities and economic vitality. The award is a part of the International Research Initiative on Adaptation to Climate Change (IRIACC), a project spearheaded by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC). The five research teams’ topics are the following:

• Coastal Cities at Risk: Building Adaptive Capacity for Managing Climate Change in Coastal Megacities
• Adapting to Climate Change: Protecting Water Resources in West Africa and Canada
• Partnership for Canada-Caribbean Community Climate Change Adaptation
• Indigenous Health Adaptation to Climate Change
• Vulnerability and Adaptation to Climate Extremes in the Americas

U.K. Cycling

The mass adoption of cycling in the U.K. will require the advent of comprehensive street and policy changes, a new study says. The study examined four English towns and found that in order for cycling to reach prominence, it will require separated bike lanes of proper width on all main urban roads, as well as a strict liability law.

New Biofuel Source

Halophytic perennial grasses hold potential as a biofuel source that doesn’t compete with possible food-producing lands, a new study published in the Journal of Biomass and Bioenergy found. The grasses—biomass easily convertible to good quality ethanol—thrive in saline lands typically unfit for food production. The finding suggests a two-fold bonus, as the grasses give function to lands that might not otherwise be profitable.

Sustainable Cities Partnership

A memorandum of understanding to conduct research and conferences on creating sustainable cities was signed this week by the Centre for Livable Cities (CLC) and the Urban Land Institute (ULI). ULI is an international not-for-profit organization whose work focuses on land use and real estate, while CLC is a Singapore-based think tank who works on urban development with an emphasis on the role of public-private partnerships. While presenting the new partnership, leaders of the organizations noted the importance of high urban density and considering Singapore’s aging population.

Biofuel Rankings

Hydrotreated vegetable oils (HVO) outperform woody biomass and transesterified lipids as potential biofuel sources in both the areas of lifecycle analysis and costs, according to a new study. HVOs—generated from waste or biproducts like cooking oil—are in comparatively short supply, and as such, the study recommends woody biomass as the next best option. The findings, published in Energies, are the result of efforts from a Norwegian University of Life Sciences research team.

Salvadore, Brazil's BRT moves forward with a call for funding. Photo by Rodrigo Suriani.

Welcome back to TheCityFix Picks, our series highlighting the newsy and noteworthy of the past week. Each Friday, we’ll run down the headlines falling under TheCityFix’s five themes: mobility, quality of life, environment, public space, and technology and innovation.

Mobility

Despite improvements to the UAE’s public transit, most notably in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, the majority of the country’s youth prefer personal vehicle transport, a survey found.

Brazil’s government announced it will call for 570 million real (US$360 million) in July to build a bus rapid transit system (BRT) in the capital city of Salvador. The BRT is scheduled for a May 2013 completion, and comes in part as preparation for hosting the 2014 World Cup.

A push for public transit in Pakistan came from the Muttahida Qaumi Movement political party, who called for the inclusion of a Karachi mass transit system in next year’s federal budget.

Germany will provide Namibia with $1.27 billion in development assistance, 60 percent of which will be allocated to financial and technical services for projects like transport development.

The creation of interstate highways and major urban roads is unlikely to relieve traffic congestion problems, a study by Gilles Duranton and Matthew Turner found.

Last month  Boston’s MBTA transit system reached its highest ridership level since September 2008, with over 1.3 million people riding its bus, metro and commuter rail every weekday.

Quality of Life

51 percent of American vehicle owners are cutting back on purchases as a reaction to higher gas prices, indicates a new Harris Poll taken earlier this month.

The Urban Land Institute announced the winners of its Award for Excellence in the Americas region. Among the winners was the Brays Crossing housing project in Houston, Texas that revitalized 149 low-income apartments.

U.S. rail systems were concluded to be less safe than that of China, Japan, South Korea, the E.U. and India, according to research on passenger rail accident fatality rates.

Researchers at Umea University in Sweden uncovered the startling finding that couples in which a partner commuted to work for longer than 45 minutes are 40 percent more likely to divorce.

The C40 Cities Mayors Summit was held in São Paulo, Brazil this week. New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg is the current Chair of the C40.

Environment

The United States’ relatively nonexistent pollution taxes were exposed by Brad Plumer of the Washington Post when he cited an IMF paper, which showed that the United States raises the least environment-related revenue of any developed nation.

The U.S. Federal Transit Administration (FTA) is now accepting proposals for transit agency climate change assessments. The assessments will help transit agencies determine their vulnerability to the various hazards of climate change.

With the help of research from the Victoria Transport Policy Institute, Robert Steuteville of the New Urban Network asserted that smart growth reduces carbon emissions. His statement came in response to the U.S. National Association of Homebuilders’ recent statetement of the contrary.

Public Space

FIGMENT, a public arts organization, is expanding their ever-popular outdoor exhibitions this year to Jackson, Mississippi and Detroit, Michigan, building on their current roster of New York City and Boston.

San Francisco’s Bike Party Pride Ride will proceed this evening, celebrating LGBTQ pride, cycling pride, and pride for San Francisco.

The state of Oregon voted for more livable streets this week, with their State Senate’s passing of a bill to grant cities the right to lower current speed limits on residential streets by 5 miles per hour.

Green Roof Boot Camp Training will be held in Philadelphia, Pa. on June 14 to 17. The Training provides courses for the Green Roof Professional (GRP) accreditation. You can register for the event, here.

Technology and Innovation

Red light traffic cameras significantly improve driver behavior, new data from the Traffic Safety Coalition indicates.

The success or failure of Google’s mobile wallet technology for cellphones hinges largely on its adoption by commuters, Sheikh Taher Abu of the University of Hyogo found.

Evatran and Yazaki North America signed a Joint Development Agreement to develop plugless electric vehicle charging stations for residential, commercial and industrial applications.

Start-stop vehicles are projected to outnumber hybrid electric vehicles 16 to 1 by 2020, according to Pike Research. Start-stop vehicles, which offer 5 to 10 percent reductions in both fuel consumption and CO2 emissions, are capable of quickly shutting off and turning on their engines when slowing or idling.