Linda Velazquez Editor & Publisher ASLA, LEED™ AP, GRP

Greetings from the sunny and hot U.S. southeast!

As we're awaiting the cooler temps of our upcoming fall season, we're looking at how cities continue to consider greenroofs as a solution to cool down heat-absorbing urban developments. As part of the municipal government's Rain City Strategy, Vancouver B.C. will draft policy to require all new commercial, institutional, industrial, and multi-family residential developments to construct greenroofs and provide "maximum opportunity" for existing ones. Ecology Ottawa is calling on their city to catch up with Toronto, Chicago and other North American jurisdictions by passing a similar bylaw.

And, while some say the NYC New York City's Green Roof Property Tax Abatement Program has failed to take off, Green Roofs for Healthy Cities reports that the NYC DEP is fine tuning the Green Roof Grant Program and NYC Council Members Rafael Espinal, Donovan Richards, and Stephen Levin recently introduced a package of legislation aimed at expanding greenroofs.

Don't miss the CitiesAlive Keynote by Council Member Rafael Espinal in September in NYC, just one of the many awesome reasons to attend CitiesAlive 2018! Along with other notable industry experts and presentations, I'm particularly thrilled to see Keynote Ken Yeang, Executive Director & Principal, T. R Hamzah and Yeang Sdn. Bhd. again - we hope you join your colleagues and us and come see my own "2018 Top 10 List of Hot Trends in Greenroof & Greenwall Design!"