BiodiverCity : urban ecological design

Abstract: With the opportunities of urbanization comes in many parts of the world problems of providing residential facilities for people. Stockholm is projected to grow by approximately 40% during the next 15 years and the city's response to housing issues in the latest master plan is to make the city denser. This means developing buildings on land situated in-between existing housing areas inside the city rather than outside of it. This puts severe pressure on the already fragile urban areas in terms of reduced greenspace and as a result, reduced ecosystem services such as fresh air and water, climate regulations, recreational facilities and stormwater management. In order to receive ecosystem services, the general prerequisite is high biodiversity. This master’s thesis aims to investigate three design elements used to strengthen biodiversity: alternative lawns, green roofs and green walls. They are novel elements in modern landscape architecture and are in this thesis called the biodiversity trio. The thesis is divided into two parts. The first part consists of a literature study and interviews. The second part consists of a design programme in where the biodiversity trio is applied on a residential area being developed during 2016-2017. The literature study and the interviews focus on the biodiversity trio as well as on ecological design. Alternative lawns are in this thesis tapestry lawn and different kinds of meadows. They are used in addition to lawn where lawn would be superfluous. The green roofs that are used are extensive green roofs, extensively maintained plantings consisting mainly of meadow plants. The green walls used are of the type green façades, climbing plants, rooted in the ground climbing on wire structures adjacent to the façades. The design programme was created for a development area located in the south-western parts of Stockholm in a city district called Gröndal by the lakeshore of Mälaren. In the design programme, the biodiversity trio is applied to the courtyards and parks to strengthen biodiversity and thereby aiding ecosystem services within the residential area.