Vertical gardening and public benefit

The joint work initiated by the Izmir Metropolitan Municipality with the Bademli Nursery Cooperative four years ago is a successful example of prioritizing public interest in landscaping projects.

Vertical planting and public benefit

Approximately four years have passed since the Izmir Metropolitan Municipality, in collaboration with the Bademli Nursery Cooperative, completed the Alsancak Port Crossing viaduct piers. During this time, some changes were inevitably made to the project when a tramway was added to the highway, but the originality of the project was preserved. Furthermore, the project was deemed highly successful and received widespread acclaim from residents, leading to further development and implementation in other parts of the city. The excessive heat generated by the dense concrete and asphalt in cities often leads people to seek shade on sidewalks and long pedestrian walkways. In extreme heat, people seek immediate relief from the sun. While searching for a solution, they came up with the idea of "shaded pedestrian walkways" with enveloping plants in some of Izmir's large squares and implemented them. As the photographs show, it has achieved remarkable success.

Shaded pedestrian crossings

When we visited the area to see the latest implementation, we witnessed pedestrians sniffing the plants and air to detect the scent. We asked Landscape Architect Edip Güler, a member of the cooperative, about how the vertical and vertical planting and "shaded pedestrian walkways" project, implemented by the Izmir Metropolitan Municipality Parks and Gardens Unit in collaboration with the Bademli Nursery Cooperative, came about and was implemented:

The Izmir Metropolitan Municipality sought a solution to the concrete piers in Alsancak-Liman and tried some methods. However, to achieve the desired performance, they contacted our cooperative. For the past few years, we had been working on various forms of climbing plants, such as jasmine and ivy, in pots of 35 liters or larger, reaching 3, 4, or 5 meters tall. When the proposal came to us, we worked together to develop a project. We prepared special mortar mixes for the plants to be planted on median strips and viaduct piers and explained it technically. The highway authorities didn't want the plants directly encased in concrete. Therefore, we created a climbing surface made of wood and wire on the concrete. We dug large planting holes for the plants and filled them with specially prepared mortar mixes. We planted the plants there and installed an irrigation system. After the irrigation system, only pruning was left for maintenance. Our implementation was a great success. We even received proposals from other provinces, but we couldn't respond due to lack of time. However, in the coming period, we plan to further develop vertical planting and "shaded pedestrian walkways." I think it will become widespread. Because our application provides a much cheaper, permanent and long-lasting solution compared to vertical gardens and green walls.”

Vertical gardening and public benefit…

This successful project, undertaken by the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IMM) and the Bademli Nursery Cooperative in Izmir, is a prime example of sustainability. Şelçuk Bilgi, President of the Bademli Nursery Cooperative, emphasized several points when we spoke with him: “It's impossible to even compare our practices with their peers in terms of unit cost. For four years, we've been following and conducting on-site inspections of vertical garden or green wall projects persistently implemented in other cities. Despite the incomparably high maintenance costs of these practices per square meter, we've witnessed many of them lose their effectiveness, some wither from neglect, and some fall into complete disrepair.”

Public interest comes first…

Based on these exemplary practices in Izmir, it's clear that public service standards must be a key consideration in project and implementation decisions. In all sectoral projects, the public interest must be prioritized, with a clear focus on where it lies and how it will be achieved.