Introduction
According to the United Nations forecast, seventy percent of the world population will be living in cities by 2050 (Anonymous, 2007). Such major shift away from rural and naturally vegetated to the polluted, noisy and crowded concrete jungle of modern cities is and will continue to be profound. We must find new and innovative ways to better integrate nature into our new expanding cities. "Liveable city" concept emerged as a new urban approach in 21st century. Green roofs and parks are one way to do this, but there are substantial amounts of vertical space that for the most part have been underutilized. Minimizing the pressure on the limited/ non-renewable resources in order to convey them to the future generations describes the concept of sustainability. The terms green wall, living wall, plant wall or vertical garden are used interchangeably but appertain to the same general concept. Green walls are self sufficient vertical gardens that are attached to the exterior or interior of the building. They differ from green facades in that the plants root in a structural support, which is fastened to the wall itself (Anonymous, 2009).
“Imagine a 10-story building whose walls are green and growing – nurtured by the structure’s bio-permeable skin and compatible mechanical structural system. Picture mile after mile of leafy, flowering sound barriers along our highways, every square yard producing oxygen, fixing atmospheric carbon, settling particulates and even sheltering bird nests. Green walls.” -Jon Charles Coe
What are Green Walls?
This paper looks at the means of masking architecture in facades of plant material. Covering them with green screens (climbing plants) and living walls (plants rooted on the wall) is the primary focus. Other means, such as the use of hedges or green roofs, should be considered outside the immediate scope of research. They may be referred to at times, but the goal is to look at the functions, advantages and disadvantages of green wall technology. The hope is that green walls and similar elements will achieve a more mainstream understanding and acceptance and be added to the toolbox of every landscape architect. Designers are often limited by more than just their imaginations, and this paper should provide ammunition to any designer who wishes to make the case for green walls.
Historical Uses
Historically, green walls and similar methods of construction have had extensive use throughout the world. Despite the recent resurgence of the technology, the advantages associated with green walls have been known and put to use for thousands of years. Techniques similar in style and effect to green walls and screens include espalier, green roofs, turf houses and earth shelters.
Objective of the Concept:-
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A Farmer in India should become self sustained with his own economy.
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In simple words we can say that if a farmer is poor and having small piece of land but want to have higher yield in large quantity there should be adoption of this Vertiscaping technology so that he can get more yield and in less space with less irrigation and less tillage practices and less Machinery.
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This Article is not on the ornamental crops and climbers mostly, we are thinking and doing on the crop plants to but mainly for transplanting paddy or other short stemmed vegetable crops like coriander etc… Short stemmed plants like coriander, pudhina, green leafy vegetables have generally small roots which are not that much deep (Mostly about 6 Cm).
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Due to increasing urbanization and globalization, population rate is increasing day by day, leading to increase in the value of land hence farmers are facing difficulty in buying the land. For this there is an integrated solution for sustaining livelihood and environmental stability.
Selection of crops for using this technology:-
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Generally all the ornamental crops are cultivated using green technology.
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But why not crop plants in developing country like India are cultivated through VERTISCAPING.
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Due to many reasons and lack of technical knowledge to farmer this is not being adopted.
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So selection of crop plants is the most important thing.
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Initially one can prefer small length crop plants having medium sized length for growing.
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The crop plants like rice, coriander, green leafy vegetables are most preferable for this technology.
Technologies
Green Walls:-
This term refers to a wall that incorporates vegetation into its structure or onto its surface, and which does not require plants to be rooted in a substrate at the base of the walls with green facades.
Hydroponic system
In this system, a frame is erected, simply a vertical beam or, for large projects, aslattice work and waterproof panels are then fastened to it. Two layers of material are stapled to the waterproof panels. The material is made up of recycled synthetic fiber spun non woven matrix. Plants are placed between the two layers of material in hand cut pockets. The plants are placed with inert substrate like perlite or vermiculite around the roots to hold the moisture for longer time. The drip irrigation system is placed between the two layers of material allowing the water to slowly percolate downward for irrigation as well as fertigation.
Modular boxes
This system use substrate holding containers made of plastic or metal. The substrate is packed directly into the empty container or placed in a water permeable, synthetic fiber bag.The containers are connected together and anchored to the wall or to an independent structurally secure metal rack or framework. Alternatively, plastic or metal growing containers can be hung on a metal grid or plastic modules having bracket fixed into wall onwhich pots are fixed.
Cost Consideration
Each green wall or facade will vary significantly in terms of cost, depending on the site, the system installed and the construction materials used. Costs can be reduced in small projects as ‘do it yourself’ installations, involving less personnel and smaller spaces, but these are also difficult to estimate. Construction costs will vary according to location, access for installation may required mobile cranes etc.
Environmental and ecological impacts
Vertical gardens positively contribute to both living space and the city by creating a living environment inside.
Reduction of urban heat island effect
Water loses from the plants through evapotranspiration reduces the temperature in the surrounding atmosphere.
Improvement of air quality
Plants absorb the sun light and produce glucose and oxygen by splitting the carbon dioxide produced by living things and water. Vertical garden practices in interior and exterior spaces filters chemical particles in the air such as CO2, NO2, SO2, CO etc. Plants in the interior vertical gardens can degrade VOCs, benzene, toluene and other toxic fumes (Darlington et al., 2001).
Improvement of energy efficiency
The vertical garden, creating an air gap between the garden and the wall, slows down the vertical movement of heat, and thus heat is captured during cold weather and isolated during hot weather. A vertical garden can reduce impact of the wind by 75% and heating demand by 25% (Peck et al., 1999).
Noise reduction
Vertical gardens can be considered as an additional layer absorbing the external andinternal noise (Peck et al., 1999).
Biodiversity enrichment
Green wall designers need basic knowledge on biodiversity and ecological restoration for plants as well as on fauna for animals. Climbing hydrangea (Hydrangea anomala petiolaris) and morning glory (Ipomoea tricolor) attract butterflies and hummingbirds (Anonymous, 2008); other climbers like Campsis radicans,Mandevillea spp., Passiflora incarnata,Russelia equisetiformis also attract purple sunbird under tropical weather. Storm water ponds and filtration systems help in reconstruction of the habitat with certain leaved plants.
Urban agriculture
Rapid urbanization and reduction of rural areas adversely affect the agricultural areas. New food production techniques are tested due to increasing population and urbanization. One of them is vertical agricultural practices emerged due to the reduction of horizontal spaces…
Social Impacts:-
Social impacts present the relationship between the human behaviour, activities and vertical gardens.
Psychological impact
Horticulture has a therapy field regulating human-plant relationship to reduce stress, fear, anger, blood pressure and muscle tension (Brown et al., 2004). A study showed that green plants in the working places reduce absence of the employees by 5-15%. The plants in the classrooms reduced the stress level and increased productivity of the students by 12%
(Butkovich et al., 2008).
Aesthetic impact
The unwanted impacts of artificial and aesthetically weak look can be reduced with vertical gardens. Urban aesthetics increases with the vertical garden practices, deformed structure surfaces can be covered with plants and urban image can be renewed.
Health impact
From a physiological perspective, vertical gardens might have an impact of reducing heart rate and stress (Peck et al., 1999). It is reported that symptoms such as headache might be reduced by at least 20% (Bringslimark et al., 2009).
Job opportunities
New business and job opportunities are created in the market when the local governments and private sector started vertical garden practices for urban memory and identity in the institutional green market.
Summary:
Vertical gardens ecologically contribute to urban life quality by many ways to mitigate the problems caused by urban pollutions as well as creating opportunity for urban agricultural practice. Vertical gardening poses many challenges in terms of appropriate construction methods, plant selection, maintenance and sustainability. There have been various approaches worldwide towards designing and construction of vertical gardens, each with its own advantages and disadvantages and with some more or less sustainable. The new plant species suitable for vertical gardening should be explored and the success of the existing plants should be monitored and taken as a research opportunity.
Future Scope:
Points those are to be considered for future considerations which might be very helpful for successful maintenance of bio-wall for a longer time viz., standardization of suitable growing media, study on selection of plants based on salt tolerance, cutting and pruning endurance, salt accumulation inside the media through fertilizer application, standardization of dose for soluble graded micro and macro fertilizers, reuse of irrigation water, selection of organic fertilizers, bio-pesticides, bio-fertilizers which have almost zero residual effects, cost effective installation and materials, a unique habitat creation for rare species with comprehensive bio diversity approach.
Author - Alamuru Krishna Chaitanya ,Dr.Sable P.A. College Of Agriculture ,Sonai Mahatma Phule Krishi Vidyapeeth
Email: Chaitanyaak02@gmail.com .
Phn :-7981750413
REFERENCES
Organic Home Gardening Made Easy, 2018, By Sujit Chakrabarty.
Anonymous (2007). State Of World Population: Unleashing The Potential Of Urban Growth.
Geneva: United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).
Anonymous (2008). Introduction To Green Walls Technology Benefits And Design. Green Roofs
For Healthy Cities: Introduction To Green Walls. Http://Www.Greenscreen.Com
Patel, M. A., Kapadiya, D. B., Chawla, S.L., Shah, H. P. and Alka Singh (2016).Vertiscaping- edges of tomorrow. Indian Horticulture,61(3):19-22
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