Gardens for stepped terrace housing

Abstract

At a time of expanding towns, groung for gardens and green spaces is becoming increasingly scarce. One way out of this situation is believed to consist in stepped terrace housing blocks, where each dwelling is allotted a very small garden. The question arises as to whether these really are genuine gardens. To answer this question, it is necessary to explain the specific importance of gardens and green spaces, against the background of the unnatural urban climate. Gardens and green spaces considerably reduce the higher temparatures ( a park 50 m wide by up to 3.5°C. The excessively dry air is thereby improved by a rise in relative humidity (by 5–10%). Green areas can reduce solid air impurities by up to 80%; any gaseous impurities attached to the latter are likewise reduced. Green areas give off oxygen; a single 100-year-old, fully grown beech tree can produce the oxygen requirement of ten people. Green areas can reduce noise by 10dB. On the basis of the thermal processes, green spaces and gardens make a unique contribution to the supply of fresh air for residential areas, even on days of little or no wind. These functions promote in many respects the physical and mental health of the people. Although the effect of the small gardens of a stepped terrace building cannot approach that of the garden of a detached, single-family house, the dwellings in a rerraced building are far superior to those in a vertical, multi-family building; for the small garden is a true garden, even though of modest size. In particular, its benefits for mental health are of inestimable value in the face of the emotional and mental stresses of the present technological era. The effect of these very small gardens increases with the amount of plants. Not all plants are suitable, however. Large trees are ruled out, as they meet with too little soil and extreme gusts of wind.