Green Roof: An Approach to Repair the Climate of Dhaka City

Abstract

Dhaka the capital of Bangladesh looks no better than a piece of hardscape from aerial view which justifies the swelling concern of replacing green areas with built up areas to fulfill the demand of briskly growing urban population. Increasing air temperature, changing rainfall pattern and 'unhealthy' air bears the proof of Dhaka city being an urban heat island created by the present development trend. Unrecoverable damage has already been done to the green spaces of this city which has turned this city as the most polluted city in the world. At the edge of the collapse of sustainability of this city new approaches such as 'green roof' can be used to repair its lungs. Although rooftop gardening has been a traditional concept in Bangladesh, in city-wide scale a very few buildings can be seen with green space in roof or balconies. This study employs satellite image analysis and GIS technology to identify the buildings with a green roof. This study uses a questionnaire survey to explore the commonly used green roof method, motivation benefits and challenges behind the implementation of the green roof. This research presents the glob al scenario of green roof and explores the possibilities of developing the green roof approach in city scale in Dhaka city.

Keywords: Green roof, Rooftop gardening, Urban Heat Island, Climate change, Satellite image analysis

JEL Classification: O18