titre: COMMUNITY AIR QUALITY GARDENS ---- color: #00BCE4 ---- id: communityair ---- imagehead: 13_Lavandula.jpg ---- imagestart: IMG_4942.jpg ---- imageend: ---- text: ## Moor Lane
Pop-Up Garden ### History There are a number of community clean air gardens planted in the City of London, many of which were developed in 2017 as part of the City in Bloom challenge. The Phyto-sensor map documents some of these gardens, including the Moor Lane Pop-Up Garden pictured here. The Moor Lane Pop-Up Garden is an example of a garden that has been developed to raise awareness about the benefits of vegetation for improving air quality. The garden was developed through a considerable volunteer effort, along with contributions from landscape architecture firm xmpl and support from the City of London. ### Plants Many of the plants detailed in this toolkit can be found in the Moor Lane Pop-Up Garden. Some of the clean air plants that you can see installed at this site include Hedera helix (Ivy), ferns, and Convolvulus cneorum (Silverbush), as well as Amelanchier (Juneberry) and Birch trees. The plants are installed in galvanized steel pipes, which fit well with the hard edge of the parking garage on this side of the Barbican estate. ### Location Moor Lane (near Silk Street) Closest station: Moorgate More info: cleanairgardens.blogspot.co.uk
## BEECH STREET AIR QUALITY GARDEN ### History Lauderdale Tower next to the Beech Street Tunnel is the site of elevated air pollution levels. One of the London Air Quality network (LAQN) monitors is located here, and a Dustbox particulate sensor has also been placed inside the Beech Street monitoring station. Both of these monitors show regular episodes of air pollution that exceeds the EU Air Quality Standards for nitrogen dioxide and for particulate matter 2.5. ### Plants Barbican volunteers have planted several concrete planters with air quality plants at the reception area of Lauderdale Tower, in part to create a screen from idling vehicles in the tunnel. Plants added to the concrete planters include Hedera helix (Ivy), Convolvulus cneorum (Silver Bush) and Erysimum bicolor (Wallflower). These plants are especially effective at depositing particulates and preventing onward dispersal. There are several additional planters with existing Birch trees (pictured here), which are an effective tree for improving air quality by filtering particulates and absorbing gaseous pollutants. ### Location Lauderdale Tower at Beech Street Closest station: Barbican More info: cleanairgardens.blogspot.co.uk
## Community Air Quality Planting Projects There are many creative and compelling community air quality gardens and planting projects in London, the UK, and across the world. Many of the community planting projects listed here are located in London as inspiring examples of projects that have installed vegetation to improve air quality and the urban environment. These projects are in addition to the examples above, as well as those marked on the map in the City of London. Some of these projects involve planting herbaceous and shrubby plants near roadside emission sources, some consist of tree planting campaigns, others include green walls on busy streets. ## Crossrail Farringdon Pop-Up Garden Developed by volunteers from the Barbican and Friends of City Gardens, the Crossrail Farringdon Pop-Up Garden is located on the Crossrail site at Farringdon Street and Charterhouse Street. Developed in parallel with the Moor Lane Pop-Up Garden included above, this site was also designed by Studio xmpl, and was planted with air quality plants. For more information, see: http://www.friendsofcitygardens.org.uk/Blog.html. ## Better Bankside’s Clean Air Mini Neighbourhood project The Better Bankside Urban Forest has received funding from the Mayor of London’s Air Quality Fund to develop a Clean Air Mini Neighbourhood project from 2017 to 2019. The project includes a number of green interventions to improve air quality, and the initiative is working with King’s College London’s Environmental Research Group to monitor the impact of these ‘green transformations’. More information is available at: http://www.betterbankside.co.uk/buf/clean-air-mini-neighbourhood. ## Edgware Road Tube Station Green Wall In 2011, Transport for London (TFL) developed a green wall at Edgware Road Tube Station to capture particulates at a busy traffic intersection. The wall holds 14,000 plants of 15 different species. Researchers at Imperial College studied the effectiveness of the green wall, and demonstrated that some plants with hairy leaves were effective at capturing particulates. The green wall was developed as part of a larger green infrastructure initiative. New walls have been installed at Blackfriars and at TFL construction sites. For more information, see: https://tfl.gov.uk/info-for/media/press-releases/2011/november/stunning-green-wall-unveiled-at-edgware-road-tube-station-to-deliver-cleaner-air and https://www.airqualitynews.com/2012/07/09/second-green-wall-installed-in-london-by-tfl. ## Goose Green School The Friends of Goose Green School (FOGGS) received funding from the Mayor of London’s Greener City Fund to install a green screen at the Goose Green Primary School. A group of volunteers from FOGGS installed the green screen during February 2018. The group is also undertaking monitoring of particulate levels using Dustboxes at locations on either side of the green screen. For more information, see: https://www.goosegreenprimaryschool.org/viewer/275 and https://mobilane.co.uk/case-studies/green-screens-cleaner-safer-air-london-school. ## Deptford Folk:
Evelyn 200 Deptford Folk is a parks and amenities group locat-ed in South East London. The community group has established the Evelyn 200 project to commemorate the publication of John Evelyn’s diaries. Evelyn was a resident in Deptford, and he wrote what is widely considered to be one of the first texts on air pollution, Fumifugium, published in 1661. One of the key objectives of Evelyn 200 is to plant 200 trees in 2018 in the Evelyn ward, which has high levels of air pollution and also low levels of tree coverage. For more information, see: www.deptfordfolk.org/evelyn-200. ## Energy Garden This project introduces air quality plants on the London Overground line. Hedgerows are installed to filter particulates and noise, and living walls are installed on platforms to clean the air. More information is available at: http://energygarden.org.uk/2026-2.