Madrid: Improving ecological urban development by naturation of large building surfaces

Abstract:

The City of Madrid is aiming to improve its ecological urban development in co- operation with the university-based project of the Agribusiness-Environmental Protection in Berlin and Madrid. The initiative is directed towards the naturation of large building surfaces. It can be regarded as an example of good practice for the following reasons:

• understanding of urban and marginally urban environments as ecological systems;
• reduction of noise and dust immissions and other stress factors;
• improvement of the urban bioclimatic situation;.
• planning of urban vegetation areas;
• networking of international agribusiness experience.

Concept and aims

The Toronto Declaration "World Cities and their Environment" held on 28 August 1991 in Toronto recognised the cities as an enormous unused potential for solving ecological challenges. For this reason they ought to be pioneers for new methods in environmentally compatible developments and in urban environment management.

In Chapter 7, Agenda 21 of the UNCED Conference in Rio 1992 the principles for a sustainable and ecologically friendly development of settlement as well as efficient urban ecological management were developed.

Considering that an important and always growing percentage of the population is living in urban areas and that this population shows an increased environmental consciousness, cities world-wide are facing with the task of improving the urban bioclimatic situation. For this reason, the immission of dust, noise and other stress factors must be significantly reduced. At the same time, city life must be preserved and developed.

These aspects are subject to strong economic and social restrictions. As a result, urban environmental policy runs into numerous conflicts and aims, some of which are fundamental. The switch to an ecologically sound economy must begin in towns and cities.

In order to achieve this, practical steps must be taken to include the idea of an environmentally sound and sustainable development in municipal planning and administration. Urban and marginally urban environments must be understood and managed as ecological systems. Development strategies should enable cities and peri-urban agrarian regions to function as comprehensive ecosystems, ensuring a reasonable balance between economic development and ecology. An important goal of urban and regional planning policies is to preserve and link the vegetation areas within a city and its surrounding areas.

Indigenous species of plants and animals ought to be reintegrated into the urban environment. An additional possibility is to protect natural resources (river valleys, forests and agriculturally used areas) in the city and its environment by the way of landscape protection. This contributes to balanced zones which are required for urban microclimate, the preservation of recreation areas in close vicinity for use by population and the protection of bodies of water and soil. These solutions need to consider socio-economic and urban-demographic realities. The use of new knowledge and methods allows for new solutions with urban and eco-historical dimensions.

The project contains the objectives and research assignments mentioned below. These research assignments will be carried out on the example of Berlin, Madrid and other cities.

The centre of attention must be innovative possibilities of an economic and ecologically optimised use of highly adapted and functional vegetation in the urban space:

• Exploring the relationships between international agreements and subsequent national actions on the example of Chapter 7, Agenda 21 of the UNCED Conference in Rio 1992, and the UN Habitat Conference II in Istanbul, where the principles for a sustainable and ecologically friendly development of settlements as well as an efficient urban ecological management were developed taking especially into consideration the planning of urban vegetation areas, including the naturation of buildings.
• Analyzing and comparing national and international strategies towards sustainable development in the field of urban ecology, taking especially into consideration the planning of urban vegetation areas in Spain, Germany and other countries.
• Reviewing and evaluating how environmental factors are or could most effectively be integrated into the formulation, implementation and evaluation of sectoral policies (construction industry, agriculture near the city, tourism) as well as regional development policies on the example of the planning of urban vegetation areas, including naturation of buildings in selected cities.
• Clarifying societal attitudes to and the perception of environmental issues based on the example of planning of urban vegetation areas, including the naturation of buildings in selected cities.
• Environmental-economic case studies to improve the integration of socio-economic and S&T aspects in the management of complex environmental problems such as land-use changes, urbanisation and a built environment.
• Evaluation of proposals for further development of various combinations of market oriented and interventionist instruments and strategies to integrate the objectives of economic growth (building in the city, tourism, development of horticulture and agriculture near the city) with environmental quality as eexemplified by an innovative naturation of large building surfaces with highly adapted plant material (extremophilic xerophytes).
• Economic and ecological management elements (innovative and dynamic management instruments for municipal political decision-makers) as an alternative to using older regulations dealing with air quality.
• Instruments which facilitate improvement in different economic and non-economic fields by means of consent engineering.
• Urban-agrarian consent engineering, for example in connection with the conversion of intensively used agricultural areas in the further peri-urban region into an extensive (ecologically and economically friendly) cultivation should be examined.
• Development of the basic principles for a tool to assess technological priorities for urban environmental improvement and their competitive advantages; development on the example of the naturation of buildings.

Implementation

The Madrid project of the naturation of large building surfaces is characterised by different planning approaches in implementing urban vegetation areas:

Naturation of building surfaces

• Bringing natural spaces into urban areas by converting horizontal and vertical building surfaces in biotopes (Scientific Pilot and Demonstration Projects Madrid 10/1994; 11/1996, Cottbus 4/1995; Berlin 10/1995; 6/1996).
• Optimising the ecological and economic effects of these Plant Aided "Bioclimatic Stress factor Sinks" (PABSS)) with the help of computer aided models (Prognostic Model Urban Ecology PMUrbEco) (Software 2/1994).
• Ecological production of extremophilic xerophytes used to naturate horizontal building surfaces on marginal farmland in peri-urban areas.(Scientific Pilotproject Madrid 6/1994).

Aims of the extensive naturation of building surfaces (biotope planting)

1. Reducing the dust load (immission) in the air we breathe by:
   • immobilisation of dust containing harmful substances;
   • reduction of the secondary emission of toxic or carcinogenic dusts containing heavy metals, diesel, soot and other compounds.
2. Reducing traffic noise by increasing the roughness of building surfaces.
3. Optimising the atmospheric humidity by:
   • accumulating rain water in the layer on the roofs;
   • releasing it gradually to the atmosphere by plant transpiration.
4. Creating near-natural urban biotopes.
5. Influencing urban thermodynamics in a positive way by:
   • importing fresh air from the suburban zone;
   • exporting immission freights.
6. Relieving the strain on urban waste water treatment facilities by:
   • reduction of the rain water load to sewer systems;
   • reduction of the qualitative strain on the biological sewage treatment process.
7. Improvement of the energy balance of buildings by the insulation effect of naturated building surfaces by:
   • saving heating energy in winter;
   • natural cooling effect in summer.
8. Reducing the frequency of roof damage by:
   • diminishing the circadian temperature amplitude;
   • no influence of ultraviolet radiation on the outer surface of the roof.
9. Relieving the strain on urban waste disposal sites through the use of recycling materials.
10. Decreasing the draining away of rain water.
11. Lowering the fees charged by some municipalities for the draining away of rain water.
12. Minimum capital investment
    • rational "spray greening" over large building surfaces;
    • no investments necessary for improving the static properties of the roof.
13. Minimum costs for vegetation substrata through the use of recycling materials.
14. Saving costs when establishing new and preserving existing ground water conservation areas near the city.
15. Multivalent utilisation of surfaces for xerophyte production.
16. Development of a new market segment for small and medium-sized companies.

The main emphasis in extensive covering of building surfaces with greenery (naturation) is on roofs and facades, walls and noise abatement barriers as well as railway road-beds and selected road traffic areas.

Aims of the extensive xerophyte production:

1. Contribution to the protection of the rural environment
   • no mineral fertiliser;
   • no herbicides;
   • no irrigation.
2. Contribution to the nature conservation through stabilisation of endangered species
   • establishing of virtual dry grass societies;
   • contributing to ecological landscaping;
   • contributing to the establishment or preservation of recreation landscapes near the city.
3. Contribution to the reduction of food production (Western Europe)
   • extensification;
   • non-food production;
   • acreage reduction (setting-aside of agrarian areas).

Actors and Structures

The management based on the work of the Joint International Project Agribusiness-Environmental Protection (JIP A.E.P.) with the leadership of Institute for Agrarian and Urban-ecological Projects at Berlin's Humboldt-University and the Polytechnical University of Madrid

Finance

The finance of the work is based on the program in the European Union, the DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service), the ASP e.v. (Civil Association for the Formation of Agricultural and Ecological Projects), the PRONATUR (Sociedad española para la promoción de la naturación urbana y rural) using university, municipal and state funds as well as industry.

Source of Information

Papers on the work of the Agribusiness-Environmental Protection Joint International Project are available from the project managers (see contact section).

Contact:

Cities:

Madrid :

The City of Madrid is the Spainish capital as well as the capital of the autonomous region and province of Madrid. It is a major manufacturing centre and products include motor vehicles, aircrafts, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, processed food, printed materials, and leather goods. It is also a touristic centre. Important institutions of higher education are the University of Madrid, the Pontifical University, the Autonomous University, the Polytechnic University, the Open University, and the Royal Academy of Music.

Population:

Project was added at 14.02.1997
Project was changed at 22.08.2001

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