Hort 497A

There is great interest in improving the urban and suburban environment, and many new approaches that link traditional engineering solutions with ecological and biological approaches to environmental problems have been developed in recent years.

The objective of this course is to examine the fundamentals of greenroofs, living walls, and constructed wetlands, their origins, installation, maintenance, and relationship with other green building technologies.

Green roofs have become an increasingly popular green building technology. They have been used as a storm water management technique for many years in Germany (upper left), but more and more are being built in North America (Green roof on Epworth Manor in Tyrone, PA middle photo). This class is hands on, with field trips (lower left) and projects including green roofs and living walls.