Greening the Rooftops: World Green Roof Conference Secretary General Wang Xianmin

Secretary General Wang Xianmin of the International Promotion Center for Vertical Planting explains his excitement for roof gardens, the potential he sees in the movement, and what to look forward to at the World Green Roof Conference, which will be hosted by his organization in partnership with the Shanghai World Expo, in Shanghai, on May 7-10.

How much of a difference can rooftop gardening make?
The studies by experts from many countries show that roof gardening does a lot of good for the environment and people’s living.

People grow vegetables and fruits on roofs in Havana, Cuba. These are organic, locally grown agricultural products, and these gardens generate 70% of the city’s requirements.

Where were the most impressive roof gardens you have seen?
The most impressive roof garden I’ve ever seen was in the suburb of Cologne in Germany. Many different kinds of crassulaceae [a family of succulent shrubs and herbs] plants grew together, exploding with flowers in different colors, and giving people a very relaxed and happy feeling. In 1982, Germany enacted legislation to promote roof gardens, and it worked out very well.

What is the current stage of development for rooftop gardening in China?
China started off very late. In 1974, the Dongfang Hotel in Guangdong skillfully built a hanging garden on the roof of its tenth floor – the president suite opened onto the garden. After Beijing won the bid to host the Olympics Games, China’s air pollution problem became an urgent issue to be solved. Roof gardening as part of Beijing’s blue-sky project developed very fast. There are 10,000,000 square meters of roof gardens in China, mostly in relatively rich large and medium cities. But roof garden development in China remains unbalanced. For instance, Shanghai’s Minxing district alone has 150,000 square meters of roof gardens, while many cities haven’t even started at all. Fortunately, real estate companies are now building roof gardens on almost all the roofs of underground garages. Now many cities’ governments have policies encouraging the building of roof gardens, and are doing studies on construction methods.

What is your greatest hope for the World Green Roof Conference?
I hope that the World Green Roof Conference will further arouse the Chinese public’s ecological consciousness and efforts for environmental protection, while encouraging governments of different levels to enact legislation promoting roof gardens. The venues and halls at the conference will be held in at the Shanghai Expo are radiant and splendid, each of them clearly exhibiting a high regard for the value of roof greening, wall greening, vertical greening, and interior greening.

I hope that the Chinese people will live a low-carbon life.

I hope that roof gardening experts and people in the industry from all countries will communicate and cooperate more as a result of the conference, and work to bring this industry of carbon sponge instruction to the next level. I especially hope mayors can realize that these projects are a great treasure that can help their cities develop sustainability, and also realize that promoting roof greening and carbon absorption infrastructure will help decrease rising global temperatures and improve people’s lives.

Register to attend the World Green Roof Conference (May 7-10 in Shanghai) on www.greenrooftops.cn