Last news in Fakti

Greening and fighting the heat

Plovdiv must take urgent measures for green landscape architecture

Aug 11, 2024 10:07 619

Greening and fighting the heat  - 1

Plovdiv residents are used to the summer heat. However, many specialists are already warning that the city should be better prepared for the climate changes that are already being felt and are calling on the administration to react, BNR writes.

Landscape architect Nevena Tsvetkova tells about what measures should and can be taken in the shorter and longer term.

"If we start to adequately control the blue and green infrastructure, then we will have a really good system that helps with climate change. Blue infrastructure takes care of the water, green for the green system. We can collect the rainwater and use it for watering or washing the streets, so we will help the city. For the green system, it was repeatedly said that there is no commitment, there is no irrigation system, the dust particles must be measured regularly.

Taking care of the parks will reduce the temperatures in Plovdiv, and the policies to combat climate change are known, they have been implemented in our country before, but I hope this will happen again...

In Plovdiv, and throughout Bulgaria, there is no implementation of measures such as roof and vertical landscaping. There are no such systems built. It is an expensive activity, but investors can be stimulated to carry it out, Tsvetkova also said.

Nevena Tsvetkova teaches park construction at the Plovdiv Vocational School of Architecture, Construction and Geodesy, is the chairman of the Scientific and Technical Society for Landscaping and a member of the Union of Landscape Architects, from where they have more than once offered the local administration various modern approaches to maintaining and developing the green system of the city.

In the words, it is very important to plant types of trees and shrubs that are resistant to natural drying, and mass practice shows that trees are planted that are not at all suitable for this climate zone - such as birches, sycamores, chestnuts, hestil...

Dry-resistant ones such as nettle, field ash, oaks, plane trees are suitable, sofora is not suitable for sidewalks, but for parks, so the approach must be expert, added Tsvetkova.

You can see detailed statistics on average property prices in Bulgaria by cities and neighborhoods HERE