Community awareness of green roofs in Sydney

There are environmental, economic and social benefits of installing green roofs on city buildings. The environmental benefits are lower building related operational carbon emissions, reductions in the urban heat island, increases in bio-diversity and reductions in storm-water run-off. Economically, the benefits are reduced roof maintenance costs, lower running costs, higher capital and rental values for commercial buildings. Finally the social or community gains are the creation of aesthetically pleasing spaces, landmarks and cultural capital as well as provision of recreational spaces. Furthermore social, psychological and therapeutic gains accrue when the roof is visible to people and is used for social interaction and leisure activities. The perceived drawbacks are perceived greater risk of building leaks, high costs of installation and maintenance, and access and security issues. Whilst the technology to design and install green roofs has existed for hundreds of years the uptake and the demand for green roofs has been affected by poor understanding and a lack of data. Overall, the environmental social and economic gains are not perceived sufficient to create significant demand to set up green roofs. In Sydney Australia, the existing number of green roofs is testimony to this observation. With the aim of addressing the barriers to the uptake of green roofs; it is essential to understand the way in which the key stakeholders; here the community, perceive the technology. With this knowledge it is then feasible to develop an agenda to mitigate any erroneous perceptions that exists. This research reports on a survey with the Sydney community to determine their perceptions of green roofs. Adopting a qualitative methodology using questionnaire surveys, this paper aims to evaluate community perceptions and views in the City of Sydney with regards to green roofs. The findings with regards to social, economic and environmental sustainability will inform the City of Sydney’s policymaking and support of green roofs in the city.