30% of the world population was living in the cities during the 1950’s and now this percentage is about 55% in 2017. The United Nations predicts that 66% of the world population will be living in cities by 2050. According to this data, today more than 4 billion people are living in cities. Increasing pressure of urbanization on our green spaces forces all professional and amateur individuals playing a part in the city design to search for new solutions. Green terraces and roofs are one of the major, basic project solutions that come out of this search.
Behind the creation of additional living spaces, green terraces and roofs offer many other advantages such as supporting biological diversity, reducing air pollution, mitigating harmful effects of heavy precipitation by slowing it down and adding values to investments. Therefore it is now considered to be one of the indispensable factors of city life.
Green roofs are functioning in two different systems: extensive and intensive.
Extensive roofs are such locations with a lower depth (7-15) that generally do not require irrigation, requires less or no maintenance where a restricted amount of plant could be grown since they are shallow and access is generally restricted.
Intensive roofs are such environments with a deeper plantation area (15 cm), allowing plant diversity to reach up to tree. They are statically strong, requiring irrigation and maintenance and creates a location where people could live in.