Green Roofs for Healthy Cities | 2023 Year End Report

For more than twenty years, our mission has been and continues to be to build the green roof and wall industry in North America through a combination of advocacy, professional development, events, marketing and promotion, and celebrations of excellence. 

Below is a three minute read on what we’ve accomplished this year and our remaining plans for 2023 and further opportunities to participate. Thank you for your support!

GRHC BOARD GOVERNANCE

2024 EVENTS + OPPORTUNITY CALENDAR

GRHC RESOURCES

Building a larger market through policy.

• Updated and released The Green Roof and Wall Policy Guide

  • In July, we released Green Roofs and Walls Policy Guide with best practices and dozens of links to mandates, regulations and programs that support green roofs and walls. Download the free resource here.

  • Thank you to the authors and reviewers of the Policy Guide: Richard Hayden, GRP, Retired (Advisor), American Hydrotech, Inc. Jeff Joslin, Director Emeritus, Current Planning, San Francisco Planning Department Peter Lowitt, FAICP, Devens Enterprise Commission,  Rushil Malik, Marketing Manager, Green Roofs for Healthy Cities Steven W. Peck, GRP, Honorary ASLA, Founder and President, GRHC Maya Stern, Program Coordinator, Green Roofs for Healthy Cities (GRHC), Shayna Stott, Senior Planner, City of Toronto

• Virtual Symposia

  • In April GRHC held a Virtual Symposium on Policy focused on best practices which attracted more than 99 attendees. The Policy Virtual Symposium is free on the Living Architecture Academy. 

• Green Roof Policy Advancements

  • There was one new green roof policy passed in Somerville, MA.

  • Green Roofs for Schools proposed legislation edited and reintroduced to Congress.

• We promoted the Living Architecture Performance Tool, a green roof and wall performance rating system, in Berlin at the World Green Infrastructure Congress in June.  GRHC also supported ongoing lobbying efforts for green roof and wall policies in the European Union, through the European Chapter of the World Green Infrastructure Network. See these international policy articles in the Living Architecture Monitor for more information.  The next World Congress will be hosted by New Zealand in August 2024. 

Getting the word out on living architecture and our members products and services

• Published 26 Green Roof and Wall Newsletters. New developments, new courses, events, GRPs and the Living Architecture Monitor’s corporate member advertisers are promoted in each issue. 

• Published updated digital Green Pages: Green Roof and Wall Directory in January 2023. All members receive a free listing.

• Produced 8 new episodes of Sustainable Futures: Designing Green Communities and Buildings Podcast, featuring interviews with experts. Podcasts have reached more than 70,000 listeners. Listen to it here.

• Worked with more than 20 associations to sign partnership agreements to cross promote activities and developments to a much broader audience.

• Published four issues of the Living Architecture Monitor magazine, with over 66 articles including 4 peer reviewed Journal of Living Arhitecture Articles. The LAM has enjoyed more than 16,800 unique readers per issue on average thus far. Corporate advertisers receive banner ads and earned media opportunities. 

  • Thank you to the advertisers in the LAM: Carlisle Syntec, American Hydrotech, Hunter Industries, Greenscreen, Downes Forest Products, LiveRoof & LiveWall, Permaloc, rooflite, Jakob Inc., Jelitto Perennial Seeds, Recover Green Roofs, Soprema Canada, Apex Green Roofs, Babylon Farms, City of Toronto, Next Level Stormwater Management, Tournesol.

• GRHC has a total of 40,000+ social media contacts and over 700,000+ social media impressions across platforms.

Building community, policy support and increasing awareness.

• Approximately 1000 people engaged in our in person and virtual events.

• GRHC launched Grey to Green in five cities across North America including Boston, Toronto, Grand Rapids, New York City, and Vancouver. These conferences had 72 speakers.

• Join us for our final event, the Virtual Awards of Excellence Symposium for the Awards of Excellence Winners is being hosted on Janurary 9th, 2023.

Thank you for marketing and promoting your products and services through sponsorship of these events. For more information contact Eric Durnford, Director of Business Development and Events at edurnford@greenroofs.org.

Thank you to our many sponsors this year for supporting our events:

LiveRoof, Permaloc, Rainplan, Green Infrastructure Foundation, Inhabitect, Architek, City of Toronto, Soprema Canada, Sika, ZinCo, Beacon Environmental, Ginkgo Sustainability, Ontario Greenbelt Foundation, ARUP, Boston Society of Architects, Boston Society of Landscape Architects, Devens Enterprise, Naturcycle, Recover Green Roofs, rooflite, HMFH Architects

For more information about marketing and sponsorship opportunities for 2024 please contact Eric Durnford, edurnford@greenroofs.org

Ensuring quality design, installation and maintenance.

• Over the course of the year, five new courses added to the Living Architecture Academy (LAA)

• More than 2000 people enrolled in the LAA.

• In total there were:

  • 15 New Green Roof Professionals

  • Six New PREP Graduate Green Roof Professionals

  • 50 Green Roof Installation and Maintenance Professional Training Attendees

  • Four New accredited Green Roof Installation and Maintenance Professionals

• Green Roofs for Healthy Cities continues to support education and professional development through the Living Architecture Academy by offering 24/7 on-demand access to training courses on a variety of topics such as biodiversity, water management, green roof and green wall design and management, urban agriculture, and much much more. The Academy also hosts a variety of free lectures and presentations such as a demonstration of a green roof cut test, as well as conference recordings of past CitiesAlive conferences and Virtual Symposia events. All courses are approved for AIA, ASLA, and GRP continuing education.

GRHC is excited to welcome these outstanding individuals to the board, and their collective experience and knowledge will significantly contribute to the organization's ongoing success.

• The following people have been appointed to the board for 2024:

• Research Chair - Bruce Dvorak, Texas A&M University

• Green Walls Committee Chair - Lily Turner, Urbanstrong

• Policy Committee Chair - Shayna Stott, City of Toronto

• Chair, Regional Academic Centers - Dr. Olyssa Starry, Portland State University

• Corporate Members

  • Roxanne Miller, Soprema 

  • Charles Duprey, Naturecycle 

• Virtual Symposium Online: Solar + Green Roof Integration | February 15

• Virtual Symposium Online: Innovative Product Profiles | March 14

• Virtual Symposium Online: Monitoring and the “Internet of Nature” | April 18

• Virtual Symposium Online: Urban Agriculture & Rooftop Farming | May 14

• Regional Grey to Green Conference: Chicago | June 7

• Virtual Symposium Online: High Performing Integrated Stormwater Management Projects | July 18

• Regional Grey to Green Conference: Portland | August 2

• Virtual Symposium Online: Designing for Biodiversity | September 19

• CitiesAlive 20th Anniversary Conference, Awards, Trade Show and Celebration: Toronto | November 6-9

CitiesAlive Conference

• This multi-disciplinary conference will be held in the vibrant city of Toronto, spotlighting pioneering green roof designs, groundbreaking policies, and groundbreaking products and services within the green infrastructure industry.

• We are currently accepting proposals for the conference, for both sessions and research papers. Learn more here.

Grey to Green Conferences

• These regional conferences help to develop agency for green infrastructure implementation, and drive policy.

Living Architecture Monitor (LAM)

• The LAM is a quarterly magazine that focuses on the green roofs, walls, and living architecture industry. Featuring case studies, research, and best practices, the LAM provides a platform for professionals to share their expertise and experiences in designing, constructing, and maintaining living architecture systems. The LAM also has a search function, and archived articles can be searched here.

Living Architecture Academy (LAA)

• This online learning platform is dedicated to bringing you the best, most up to date professional training information on design, installation and maintenance practices. Register today to begin earning CEUs from AIA, APLD, LA CES, GRP, with new courses being added regularly.

Green Infrastructure Foundation (GIF)

• GIF is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization, affiliated with Green Roofs for Healthy Cities, operating across the United States and Canada. Their programs include Training and Workshops, Green Infrastructure Charrettes, the Living Architecture Performance Tool, the Journal of Living Architecture, and Events and Conferences.

Sustainable Futures: Designing Green Communities and Buildings Podcast

• Sustainable Futures is an all new biweekly podcast from Green Roofs for Healthy Cities featuring interviews and discussions about the innovative approaches to green infrastructure, resilience planning, and sustainable design with host and GRHC Founder/President Steven Peck. This podcast brings together thought leaders from around the world, bringing the knowledge and insight to you, wherever and whenever you are.