Architects and town planners are working to make our cities and buildings greener. Given how little available space there is, and how that space is shrinking, one way of greening a city is by using vertical gardens. They’ve been tried and implemented with varying degrees of success in different places across the world, but few more dramatic and breathtaking, than Bosco Verticale (pictured above) in the Italian city of Milan.

Pockets of green in cities, like public parks, provide places for us to relax and de-stress, bring us together, they encourage grown-ups to be active and children to play, and they’re great for air quality too – absorbing and reducing pollution, noise and heat.

The fact that eco-friendly surroundings are good for our mental and physical health, means it helps lower our risk of conditions like anxiety and depression, obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, heart problems, stroke and more. Green surroundings and cleaner air have also been linked with healthier babies being born, because of the negative effects of pollution and stress on the health of pregnant women.

The name of the two towers shown here, means “vertical forest” and this pair of award-winning residential apartment blocks are 110m and 76m tall, respectively. They’re home to 900 trees and more than 2,000 plants – all positioned in relation to the sun, depending on what side of the buildings they’re on. These living façades are constantly evolving, changing colours with the seasons and bringing nature into the city in ways never seen before.

Now five years old, they’ve raised the profile of vertical gardens and have shown how versatile they can be, and how well they scale. It’s also played a role in the tremendous innovation in terms of vertical gardening on a smaller scale, with urban dwellers increasingly craving more green.

We might be living in smaller spaces, but many of us want to go back to what’s good for us by eating more healthily. A vertical veggie garden could give you fresh, organically grown herbs and vegetables every day. You’d also have a smaller carbon footprint because you wouldn’t be driving to go grocery shopping as often as before, nor would you be consuming mass-produced products.

As they’ve grown in popularity, vertical gardens have also become a lot easier to put in place. You no longer need professionally fitted frames and customised containers. There are many systems and sizes to choose from, and the containers can be anything from traditional plant pots made from plastic or ceramics, to decorative containers, and even panels or pockets made from geotextile fabric. These are highly durable, sturdy and tough, but feel like soft felt and are lightweight enough to order online and have delivered to your door.

A vertical garden makes sense on many levels. Few excuses, therefore, for not surrounding yourself with a bit of green, no matter where you are.A vertical garden is one of the many beautiful things you could enjoy in a brand-new apartment at Harbour Arch, the Amdec Group’s R15 billion Cape Town project. Please contact Ilze Müssmann on 087 809 0000 or ilzem@amdec.co.za to discuss Harbour Arch, or any of the Amdec Group’s other developments.