Top urban news, trends and reports curated for the world’s city leaders. Edited by David Hatch
Vertical gardens cleanse Mexico City’s polluted air
An innovative Mexico City company is leveraging the megacity’s built environment to cleanse its air, CCTV America’s Franc Contreras reports.
Verde Vertical, or Vertical Green, specializes in creating green space along walls to enhance aesthetics and combat smog, the article says.
Founder Fernando Ortiz tells CCTV that the company has added greenery to more than 400 public places across Mexico City. “Vertical gardens produce oxygen and help filter the heavy metals and dust from the air,” Contreras writes. They also add a touch of beauty to an urban landscape that is barren of vegetation.
The firm uses a cloth made from recycled plastic bottles and supported by old toothpaste tubes to attach plants to structures, such as a heavily trafficked bridge. There’s also plenty of high-tech wizardry. Irrigation and plant nutrition systems are computerized, Ortiz says. Wireless sensors allow his team to monitor everything from temperature to soil quality, with adjustments made remotely.
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