{"id":44424,"date":"2018-11-06T07:19:01","date_gmt":"2018-11-06T10:19:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rioonwatch.org\/?p=44424"},"modified":"2019-01-28T15:37:15","modified_gmt":"2019-01-28T18:37:15","slug":"green-roof-favela-sustainablefavelanetwork-profile","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/?p=44424","title":{"rendered":"Green Roof Favela [PROFILE] #SustainableFavelaNetwork"},"content":{"rendered":"

Clique aqui para Portugu\u00eas<\/em><\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Initiative:<\/strong><\/span> Teto Verde Favela (Green Roof Favela)
\nContact<\/strong><\/span>:\u00a0<\/strong>Facebook<\/a>\u00a0| Email<\/a>
\nYear Founded<\/strong><\/span>:<\/strong> 2014
\nCommunity<\/strong><\/span>:<\/strong> Parque Arar\u00e1, Benfica (North Zone)
\nMission<\/strong><\/span>:<\/strong> To mitigate the urban heat island effect and purify the air with green roofs
\nPublic Events<\/strong><\/span>:<\/strong> Seed exchanges,\u00a0educational activities for children<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

When Luis Cassiano Silva started Green Roof Favela in 2014, residents of Parque Arar\u00e1<\/a> in Rio’s North Zone<\/a>\u00a0were skeptical: “Creating green roofs in the favela\u2014what a crazy project!” The objective is simple: to transform an\u00a0urban heat island<\/a>\u00a0through a refreshing and soothing “green canopy”\u2014in effect, making the area a more pleasant place to live.\u00a0To this end, the initiative works to educate residents about green roofs and their capacity to reduce temperatures<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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A resident of Parque\u00a0Arar\u00e1 for twenty-five years, Cassiano has worked in various fields\u2014theater, cinema, music, show production\u2014and describes himself as a”cultural activist.” From a young age, he became interested in plant life and felt a connection to nature. He is highly knowledgeable about\u00a0plants,\u00a0especially their medicinal qualities, and devotes his free time to Green Roof Favela.<\/p>\n

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Cassiano’s inspiration for Green Roof Favela stems\u00a0from models implemented in\u00a0European countries such as Germany, where the benefits of green roofs are widely recognized. Indeed, drawing inspiration from the Scandinavian\u00a0sod roof<\/a>\u00a0model dating back to the Middle Ages, Germany has been a pioneer of green roof technologies<\/a> since the 1950s in an effort to mitigate the adverse effects of urbanization.<\/p>\n

Cassiano sought out the technical support of Bruno Resende, whose thesis examined the construction of green roofs in Brazil. Together, they created a similar model in Parque Arar\u00e1 with vegetation adapted to Brazil’s\u00a0tropical climate\u2014\u201cplants that resist heat.” The research and development phase was important: Cassiano and Resende experimented with various techniques to achieve the best possible results.<\/p>\n

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\nThe social, environmental, and economic benefits to green roofs are numerous, from providing thermal protection and improving air quality to mitigating stormwater runoff pollution and saving costs for both residents and cities.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Green Roof Favela, which does not receive any funding, guides residents in the process of creating green roofs\u2014from acquiring materials to building the roof. In addition, one of the initiative’s main activities is educating children in the community about the importance of respecting plants, and more broadly, the environment. “Most children in the favela have no interaction with the forest and do not respect it… It’s a culture of destruction. We must educate them, slowly,” Cassiano describes.<\/p>\n

More generally, beyond the benefits of green roofs, Cassiano highlights the importance of the presence of plants in\u00a0improving residents’ quality of life<\/a>. Cassiano describes the emotional benefits of incorporating green space into the favela landscape: \u201cIn the favela, there are two colors [red and gray]. There are studies on color<\/a>\u00a0that say that red [signifies] passion, force, tension, explosion. But there is also gray\u2014more melancholic, sad, depressing… The favela is this: samba and love, but also sadness because it is poor.\u00a0The color green will reduce violence. When we’re close to green space, we feel good<\/a>. Favelas need this.”<\/p>\n