What if something as mundane and universal as a bus shelter could add major green space to an urban environment?
First popularized in the Netherlands and now popping up across Europe, green bus stops have finally made their way to North America.
Last August, Boston, Massachusetts installed its first 30 green bus shelters along Route 28, a corridor with some of the highest bus ridership in the city that also lands in neighborhoods disproportionately affected by extreme heat.
It’s a simple concept: Use the roof of a no-frills bus station to offset the heat-island effect in urban areas devoid of trees, provide direct shade at bus shelters, help reduce flooding, improve biodiversity of native pollinators, and see something a little more beautiful on the daily commute.
Boston made history as the first city in the United States to adopt the green roof last year, sometimes called “living roofs,” and have already made waves in other locations.
This year, according to the Washington Post, green shelters are planned in two Maryland towns, with proposals to install green roofs in Arlington, Virginia and New York.
While it seems like a small gesture to the bees of any given city, the initiative is no small feat.
In fact, if Boston installed living roofs on all 8,000 of its bus stops, the city estimates it would amount to 17 acres of green space, or about 13 football fields.
“These green roofs on bus shelters are not just a representation of Boston’s progress on sustainability,” Mayor Michelle Wu said in a statement last year.
“They are a practical, scalable solution to some of the most pressing challenges we face as a city.”
Boston’s installation was a team effort, as the city partnered with Social Impact Collective, a Boston-based, minority-owned architecture and design firm, to imagine the rooftop gardens.
Weston Nurseries, a local plant nursery, provided the plants, and YouthBuild Boston provided some elbow grease. The nonprofit supports underserved young people as they enter the construction and design industry.
“The number of public and private partners involved in this project demonstrates the all-of-government approach this administration has taken to enhancing sustainability, livability, and justice,” Oliver Sellers-Garcia, Boston’s Green New Deal director, said.
“We’re committed to putting all our resources towards work that improves daily life and directly involves residents, youth, and local entrepreneurs. Boston’s climate investments are quality of life and economic development investments, too.”
Boston’s living roofs are composed of panels of structural roof decking, under layers of drainage. On top is a thin layer of soil where plants like Sedum and native pollinator plants will grow, species that are both drought-tolerant and able to adapt to Boston’s winters.
While it’s too early to tell exactly what benefits Boston will see from the living roofs, Utrecht, a city in the Netherlands, could provide some key insights.
Across the Netherlands, green bus shelters were installed to address a declining bee population. (They were even nicknamed “bee lines.”) With steady sources of food for the pollinators, it seems the population has begun to steady, according to a “national bee census” published earlier this year.
Studies in Montreal, Canada have also used thermal-imaging cameras to prove that a bus shelter with a green roof is significantly cooler than one without, leading to similar installations in Quebec.
As Boston’s 30-location pilot project will continue to be maintained and monitored for its impact on heat, air quality, stormwater management, and biodiversity, city stakeholders are hopeful.
A precedent study for a living shelter in Boston showed a reduction in surface temperatures by as much as 30 degrees Fahrenheit, as a starting point.
Zoe Davis, the senior climate resilience project manager on the Climate Ready Boston team, gave a TEDxTalk about the project, adding that each living roof can absorb up to 1,500 gallons of rainwater in a 1-inch rainfall, which significantly reduces runoff to prevent flooding.
“What if solutions to climate change didn’t have to be massive to make a difference? In the face of rising temperatures and greater extreme heat risk, what if the key to a cooler, more livable future can be found in the places we pass by every day?” Davis asked in her TEDxTalk.
“It’s small steps like growing living roofs on bus shelters that can compound and ripple into big impacts for our cities, our communities, and the environment.”
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Header image courtesy of Wallbarn
