Groene Gevels (facade gardens)

We want to plant sustainable facade gardens on the Uithof to increase biodiversity. By only taking out a few rows of paving stones and put plants in.

Facade gardens increase biodiversity. If we do not act on this, a lot of insects will be extinct within 20 years. With every species that disappears, other species are threatened in their existence. Next to this, greenery in the city ensures better soil permeability, less congested sewers and less heat in the city. It affects people as well: a green environment has a positive effect on health, it reduces stress and improves concentration. We think the Uithof is an extremely suitable place to create facade gardens. In addition, it will raise awareness under students and people who visit the Uithof of how easy it is to have a positive impact on the climate. In our view, the Uithof could be a lot greener. The best thing would be to create these gardens together with students, and this can be a good way to de-stress. In consultation with a biologist, we identified which plants and flowers best fit the Utrecht ecological habitat, and we want to do this for the Uithof as well. We want to closely monitor our impact from the start. By measuring the number of removed paving stones and the number of plants have replaced them. Next to this, we want to do longitudinal soil investigation in order to see how biodiversity develops and as an expected result we hope that this will be increased.

Outside environment of the Utrecht Science Park (the whole campus). But maybe it's possible to realise facade gardens at the other University buildings in the city centre of Utrecht als well.

We need money for plants, flowers, potting soil and tools to remove tiles. It depends on how big the facade gardens will be, but a facade garden for a terraced house costs around 70 euros.

The facade gardens are laid out in the open air, this is a lot safer and it is possible to keep a distance of 1.5 meters during construction.