Plante & Cité talks about it!

Caroline Gutleben

 

 

 

Caroline Gutleben

Director of Plante & Cité (National technical center for green spaces and landscape)

For a "plant" urban genius.

The effects of climate change and the evolution of our relationship to nature are opportunities to give back all its place to plants in urban areas.

First, we must consider the ecosystem services of nature-based solutions, both physical health, urban microclimate or biodiversity, which contribute to improve the quality of living environment, a vital issue in the city. With landscaped roofs, green roofs and walls, there opening of urban rivers, alternatives to the mineralization of the city are flourishing, in place of the conventional gray infrastructure of urban engineering.

But the benefits of plants in urban areas do not arise exclusively from their physiological functions. Plants also have a symbolic function that brings man and nature closer together, through a unique sensory mediation whose benefits on psychological health are well established.

Finally, it is essential to choose the right nature-based solutions according to the context and local constraints. The city is not a favorable environment: degraded soils, air pollution, spatial constraints and urban net works... There are sometimes limited margins of maneuver for the urban planners. Sustainable plant establishment therefore requires specific kwonledge, creativity and ingenuity; many reasons for companies to develop projects based on the academic skills presented in this issue of " The innovation Box of Objectif Végétal ."