4 ms·

I mean, this is great. But speaking for the UK it wont work. You add more green space, you add more maintenance, and with most of the countries councils being i

• kjkjadksj 3y ago
  They’ve figured it out in parts of the UK at least. Basically anything that isn’t a thin road lane or a sidewalk is green in this view: https://maps.app.goo.gl/CawwocFUvWy2i3h17?g_st=ic https://maps.app.goo.gl/CawwocFUvWy2i3h17?g_st=ic
• negative_zero 3y ago
  I'll offer up a "maybe hope": It might net neutral or net benefit. Now the lack of maintenance and underinvestment is visible, but you're taking strain off the (mostly invisible and no doubt underinvested in) storm water system by swapping impermeable surfaces for permeable ones. (This is a good way to save money on storm water systems in general). That said, my cynical side would still somehow expect my local council to screw it up anyway.
• ttymck 3y ago
  I wouldn't mind
• rgblambda 3y ago
  Easy. The council puts up a sign saying the overgrown grass is for a rewilding or carbon sink initiative. Much cheaper than mowing it.
  • dannyw 3y ago
    Plant some native shrubs and trees, let it grow.
    • rgblambda 3y ago
      That wouldn't work so well as a cost savings measure. You end up with the shrubs and trees growing out into places they shouldn't and then have to be trimmed and cut back, which costs money.
      • kjkjadksj 3y ago
        They figured it out in the us at least. Tax break to landscape the yard to a certain standard. Fine the landowner for lack of tree maintenance on the public easement they are responsible for.
  • kjkjadksj 3y ago
    Or they do what US towns do and fine the owners for lack of sufficient landscaping. Overgrown fields in cities are rat nests not as good as legit landscaping.
• mint2 3y ago
  Mown, manicured lawns are not much better than concrete. As long as they put something more sensible in, maintenance can be minimal. And fortunately ornamental lawns are starting to be heavily frowned on in the arid west. Not only that, green space helps reduce the heat island effect and manage/capture storm run off. Both saving a lot of money and resources.
• bobthepanda 3y ago
  usually these kinds of initiatives also involve planting local plants, and specifically not manicured lawns for this purpose. Lawn grass isn't even native to North America, and a lot of the examples are North American. This is usually meant to retain enough water to prevent building lots of grey infrastructure. The Thames Tideway tunnel to lower the amount of sewage outflow in London is 4.3B pounds. In that context, building a lot of mini-retention ponds for tens of thousands of pounds is a lot cheaper. and this isn't the only strategy; a lot of modern parks, for example, are built with facilities like courts for sports below the ground level of the park, so that during flood times they turn into bathtub holding ponds as well. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thames_Tideway_Tunnel https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thames_Tideway_Tunnel
• dgacmu 3y ago
  In Pittsburgh, as with many older US cities, we have a combined storm water / sewer system. Stormwater runoff from impervious surfaces joins the sewer system; under normal conditions, this means we have to pay to clean it, and under high flow conditions, it means the sewers go into the overflow system, dumping feces into the river. This isn't a universal problem, but it means there's a pretty big benefit to reducing runoff, and the city has been pursuing it aggressively for the last 20 years or so, to good effect. (The runoff also leads to localized road flooding, which is again both dangerous to road traffic and expensive to mitigate.)
  • mathieuh 3y ago
    In England the water companies routinely dump raw sewage into waterways, to the point where it isn’t safe to swim or even go near the water in many places and there are massively deleterious effects on ecosystems. It’s a huge scandal at the moment because the formerly public and now privatised water companies are doing this dumping while continuing to pay huge dividends to shareholders and the toothless regulator is doing nothing about it.
• graemep 3y ago
  The biggest loss of green space in the UK has been the covering of (private house) gardens with hard surfaces or decking. I do not know what the impact on maintenance costs of greening public spaces is though - hard surfaces need less frequent maintenance, but it is more expensive when needed.
  • kjkjadksj 3y ago
    Hard surfaces make stormwater issues a lot more costly for a city too
• multjoy 3y ago
  Not mowing is better for the environment and the budget.
  • baq 3y ago
    Not all roses though: high grass makes for a lot of ticks.