BUILDINGS THAT BREATHE

An overview of ways that innovative architects are adding health-giving greenery to densely populated cities.

Large cities with paved streets and tall buildings create extra heat and polluted air for their inhabitants. Around the world, architects are designing buildings that incorporate plants and trees to provide healthier environments. Castaldo explains why planting more trees is beneficial and takes a quick look back into the history of such projects. She then introduces Italian architect Stefano Boeri, summarizing his development as a green architect and describing at length the construction of Bosco Verticale, a treescraper in Milan. Widening her scope, the author discusses urban wildlife; rooftop plantings and green roofs; living walls; and urban farms. Her concluding chapters suggest some of the critical challenges to these approaches and ways readers can become part of this greening movement. Along the way, segments set off by the design present topics as varied as photosynthesis, Seneca Village before Central Park, Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater, the rise of environmentalism in the West, aerial arborists, the health benefits of including nature in your life, High Line Park in New York, pollinators, green jobs, and electric cars. These inserts and the many photographs break up the text nicely, but some of them also distract from the work’s main focus.

Hopeful and information-packed, this is a positive addition to the environmental shelf.