Climate Strategies in European Cities:
'Greening the City'
Paris & Amsterdam - Flagship examples of European green space initiatives
Helga Fassbinder
By recent research we know about the highly positive effects of green on the urban climate. Slowly cities have been starting with the strategy of what the French call "végétalisation urbaine". Green roofs tend to become more common, vertical green is recent strategy in some places. For trees, the most efficient factor of urban climate, the possibilities seemed to be limited, even declining within inner cities. But there is also an opposite movement which servers attention: vertical gardens in highly dense inner city areas as a substitution of new parks which are not possible, roof, balcony and window gardens, inner city community pocket gardens on small public spaces, examples of planting new trees on streets close together.... Paris and Amsterdam are interesting fields of inspiration in the fight against warming up and micro particals.
