“Sponge City” principle: smart soils for healthy trees

The initiative, for example, shows that many essential structures for sustainable cities with a high quality of life and amenity exist in secret Urban menus excellent project “Sponge City”. According to this, roads are given a substructure with a substrate that offers trees around 30% voids and can store water. Local types of rock can be used as a substrate.

Landscape architect DI Prof. OStR Stefan Schmidt from the Higher Federal Teaching and Research Institute for Horticulture Schönbrunn explains: “The soil under the streets does not have enough cavities for the roots, no air pores and there is a lack of water. The trees sit in a kind of small flower pot and then die after 20 years at the latest. If we want to have 2080 trees that protect us, we have to plant them today and we have to plant them so that they grow old. This requires adequate underground supply systems that also carry water: Green infrastructure is only possible with blue ones. "

This type of soil loosening has been used in Scandinavia for more than 30 years. The concept is currently being implemented in Austria: Schwamm-Allee in Graz. In the Seestadt Aspern Vienna, an underground sponge structure is planned in the quarter on the Seebogen.

Image & Video: Urban Menus

Urban Menus Smart City Product winner 03/21

March's 2021 award goes to Sponge City for Urban Trees, a concept that - using local materials - seeks to ensure a subsoil structure in streets that is conducive to the growth of healthy trees. Trees are not only fundamental to the city's blue-green infrastructure but are also key to tackling climate change.

Urban Menus Smart City Product winner 03/21

March's 2021 award goes to Sponge City for Urban Trees, a concept that - using local materials - seeks to ensure a subsoil structure in streets that is conducive to the growth of healthy trees. Trees are not only fundamental to the city's blue-green infrastructure but are also key to tackling climate change.