Manchester is a city that is well-known and celebrated for its rich culture, historical significance, and dynamic urban landscapes. It has an opportunity to become one of Britain’s first “green cities” by introducing living plant walls throughout the city. This change could redefine the city’s skylines and offer the city a breath of fresh air, quite literally.
In light of the climate crisis, Manchester can emerge as a climate champion by taking this step. The term “concrete jungle,” which is often used to describe Manchester, is linked with growing populations, rising pollution, and declining air quality. Like many other cities, Manchester needs to balance infrastructure development with creating a healthier environment for its residents.
Living green walls filter out CO2 and other harmful air pollutants while providing other benefits for health and the environment. They can increase biodiversity, help regulate temperature, and mitigate noise levels.
Air pollution can be detrimental to the environment and extremely dangerous for people’s health.
Public Health England estimates that long-term exposure to air pollution causes up to 36,000 deaths each year and costs the NHS up to £20 billion each year.
Living walls are already being used throughout the region, projects like Salford’s “Eden at New Bailey”, the largest living green wall in Europe, showcase that living walls are a feasible option for air pollution mitigation. Using this technology throughout the city would be the visionary and ambitious action that Manchester should take.
Based in Greater Manchester, I Want Plants is at the forefront of developing this type of urban green infrastructure. In a research partnership with Manchester Metropolitan University, I Want Plants could hold the key to helping Manchester transition into a healthier, more sustainable city.
In an interview with Manchester’s Finest, the company’s managing director said: “We simply don’t have room to plant the tree that we need, but all buildings have walls”, suggesting that we need to start viewing vertical gardens as an alternative solution.
This is why I am calling for Manchester council to incorporate living green walls into the city, as part of the Urban Green Infrastructure plan. I Want Plants’ revolutionary HYVERT system can be retrofitted to almost any building, therefore any existing building could become a candidate to house a vertical garden within the city.
To maintain recognition as an A-list city for taking bold leadership on environmental action, Manchester Council need to build on the refreshed commitments set out in the Climate Change Action Plan. Although the updated Green and Blue Infrastructure Strategy maintains a commitment to planting a further 4 community orchards and 1000 trees and hedges each year until the end of 2025, this predominantly looks at possible park areas outside of the city centre.
The current strategy lacks clarity on how carbon will be captured in parts of the city where planting trees is not an option, which is why I am calling on Manchester City Council to incorporate living green walls into the Urban Green Infrastructure plan for the next strategy update.
Living Wall Revolution MCR 
Leave a comment