Hi everyone! A bit over a month ago I made a survey about Solarpunk and shared it here. Now, I finally present you the findings of the survey! I am adding a few pics here for a preview and if you are interested, go check the link where there is a full description of the findings!!
full findings: https://thesolarpunksurvey2024.carrd.co/
I am surprised how many people didn’t get the “trees on buildings” reference…
Hi, I didn’t get the trees on building reference.
There recently was this video about it that got shared in a lot of Solarpunk related places.
Ahh.
In that case I did see the video and voted correctly!
That video effected how i think about modern solutions not necessarily how i picture a potantial solarpunk future. So I voted yes to the question.
I agree just slapping trees on buildings is not going to magically fix modern society’s much deeper issues. I do still think having roof top gardens is something that could work for a much more advanced civilization with different construction methods and materials.
I dunno i think it has a place in the more imaginative side of solarpunk… a living building (like the ships and buildings from octavia butlers liliths brood series) could definetly support gardens. Or specially grown tree houses. Or hollowed out “mountains” with sunlight vents and an entire forest on the surface. Ooooo or maybe some floating islands where people live inside the verticle garden beds.
Modern concrete and steel based architecture is definetly not ready to have that level of greenery integrated into the building structures. One of the communes I lived at had a rooftop garden, & we had tons of issues with leaks and just the sheer weight of all that dirt and plant material on the structure.
I still love the idea though, lol just not in the modern era.
In Montréal we have several large scale rooftop greenhouses built on top of warehouses. I’m guessing the warehouse construction is probably overbuilt to support the weight, but there haven’t been and major issues yet.
It might not be solarpunk, but it’s solarpunk wearing a tie at it’s day job to find it’s dreams. And their tomatoes are fucking delicious.
@Nouveau_Burnswick @hazeebabee
I remember a manual for rooftop gardens from Montreal back in the 1970s.
There are lighter growing media than soil and, of course, hydroponics and aeroponics.
Years of links to urban and advanced agriculture developments at http://cityag.blogspot.com
Years of links to net zero energy building developments at http://zeronetenrg.blogspot.com
Both are also free listservs
I was specifically referring to Lufa Farm’s commercial rooftop farms. Each farm varies slightly in construction, operation, strengths, and weaknesses.
But thanks for those listservs, great resources.
Super useful links, thanks for sharing :) it’s so cool to see all the different ways people have approached the questions & all the different solutions they came up with.
Maybe I’m just a sucker for plants on buildings though lol
Agreed (thanks for the Links & I’m a sucker for plants on buildings too!). Rooftop gardens & More vertical farming!
That sounds super cool! Warehouses especially seem like a good candidate for gardens. They’re large, typically flat on top, & are often surrounded by paved parking areas meaning they get full sun. Plus the interiors often have easy access to the ceiling making any repairs very simple.
Lol I will say our leaky roof garden was the product of hippie construction, so it was beautiful and really cool-- but not the most carefully engineered 🤣
Yeah, for me I see stuff like ivy growing on the sides to bring nature into urban spaces, and maybe greenhouses or gardens on the roof. Trees require a lot of soil and junk, and their roots can cause a lot of damage that you wouldn’t expect. I’d probably answer yes to the question even though it isn’t “trees” exactly I envision, but still green plant growth.
Good point! I’m on the same page of understanding “trees on buildngs” to mean general greenery.
Your comment did get me thinking: It would be cool if we could find a way to direct tree roots. Like how in yards if a tree root breaks into the water lines, they’ll fill that space since it is clear and full of nutrients. It’s bad for the pipes, but if done purposefully could maybe help mitigate the damage caused by large tree root systems.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Living_root_bridge
Wow! So beautiful :) fig trees really are something special
In a solarpunk future I’d hope we’d have the technology to have buildings that grow according to how they are used. That would be awesome.
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The sci-fi/space opera Pandora’s Star (and it’s follow-up, Judas Unchained) by Peter F Hamilton has humanity developing fast growing coral that they then use to essentially grow houses, over around 5 years, to the specific shape and layout that the inhabitants desire.
The books aren’t solarpunk in the truest sense, yet they have a surprising amount of solarpunk compatible ideas involved (including a hefty critique of both capitalism and unchecked industrialization).
Oooo we can dream, and in that dreaming maybe find a way to shape reality :)
Buildings that grow? Can you explain what you mean? My imagination is going wild
Idk, I was just thinking flowers or fruit growing from the walls or maybe even furniture/utilities being a part of the building itself in such a way that depending on how you use them the shape changes over time I haven’t really thought that far ahead.
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Hey I can envision what I want, and I want buildings rotten with trees.
Myco-tecture food!
I voted no, because I couldn’t help to think how cool it would be to live on treetops instead!
Why do you think people didn’t get the reference? Maybe we just saw the video but thought it was bad.