Scrolling through my social media feed recently, I was stopped in my digital tracks by a truly jaw-dropping image. It was a leafy mountainside in Shengshan, China, where what looked like well over 100 houses were entirely wrapped in living green. After being abandoned in the 1990s the fishing village of Houtouwan, 40 miles east of Shanghai, had been swallowed by nature, with Boston ivy covering every possible surface – roads, multistorey buildings, old gardens, the whole lot. It was like a model railway scene dusted in emerald icing sugar. It started me thinking of the buildings I see dotted round me in London covered in this exact same vine, and the incredible impact this could have if climbers like this were planted across our cities.
Aside from the magical aesthetic appearance, we now know that healing times in hospitals can be shorter for patients looking out at green views than for those looking out on brick walls. Exercising in green spaces not only feels easier, but can even burn more calories per session, for a range of complex reasons we have yet to fully understand. In a densely populated urban environment where space is at a premium, greening vertical surfaces is a really neat way of adding enormous amounts of nature without taking up any extra land footprint.
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