With Local Gardeners, Strongbow Created a Green Space in the City

Most people who spend their lives surrounded by concrete in an urban environment have a huge appreciation for green space in the city. In order to bring vibrant greenery to an area that lacked it, Strongbow teamed up with a group of Gorilla Gardeners to liven up an abandoned area in Johannesburg, South Africa. This 'Nature Remixed' intervention involved creating an orchard, which is now a peaceful oasis where apples trees will grow in the city.

Beyond its role as a producer of apple ciders, Strongbow is on a global mission to bring more nature into urban settings and all the while, enrich communities, cultures and public spaces.

As well as being able to see Strongbow's first initiative mapped on its website, the brand lists other inspiring examples of how derelict spaces are being transformed with nature.

The Horti Hood Provides a Temporary Hothouse For Maximum Plant Growth

The Horti Hood Pop-Up Greenhouse is an asset to consumers looking to utilize a hothouse to grow plants, but don't necessarily have the space or access to a full sized one. The Horti Hood provides a foldable and compact plastic material curved dome that simulates the same insulated experience of a hothouse, with a portable design that can be set up temporarily in no time at all.

Greenhouses are often used to mass-produce plants, fruits and vegetables by elevating the temporal environment and the Horti Hood provides the same heated quality with a UV-stable PVC structure. The plastic exterior locks heat from the sun in by creating a sealed small space area for gardeners to keep their plants inside. The portable design is ideal for small rooftops, balconies or backyards.

The San Diego Padres' Pepper Garden Grows Ingredients for Ballpark Dishes

While it's a feat in and of itself to have a pepper garden that grows some of the hottest peppers in the world, what truly makes this plot unique is its location. This organic pepper garden is not just situated in the San Diego Padres' home turf, it has a prime spot in the bullpen of the Petco Park. Last season, Luke Yoder, Petco Park’s director of field operations experimented with 18 pepper varieties from 15 countries that are now used in ballpark dishes.

While peppers are best suited for growing in warm summer weather, at other times of the year, Yoder has experimented with everything from avocados to blueberries, carrots and pomegranates. However unconventional, this inventive use of space yields plenty of crowd-pleasing additions to salsas, burgers, tacos and other stadium food snacks year-round.

'Fenway Farms' is a lush vegetable garden built on the roof of Boston's historic Fenway Park. Despite being the oldest baseball stadium in the country, Fenway Park has found an innovative way to stay current, capitalizing on the urban garden food craze happening across the world.

Fenway farms was built and launched in time for the 2015 season, providing fresh, organically grown vegetables and fruits at the park’s EMC Club restaurant. The rooftop garden was made possible with the help of Green City Growers, a Boston-based organization that converts unused space into vibrant farms.

The popularity of Fenway Farms speaks to an existing pattern of urban rooftop farms that sees city dwellers planting and harvesting their own fruits and vegetables. Also, with a more health-conscious fan base emerging, fresh local produce may even replace junk food at ballpark concession stands in the future.

Vancouver's Central Library is undergoing a massive environmentally friendly remodelling to transform the library rooftop into a large community green space that can be used for a variety of communal activities. The space will offer one of the largest open green roofs in the community that can be used during the day and at night.

The Central Library is one of the main hubs of the west coast city, dedicating various floors to books and provincial government offices. The space will increase its layout by transforming the rooftop into a green space that will extend the layout by 40,000-square feet and offer an outdoor auditorium, outdoor gallery space, meeting rooms and a reading area. The space will also provide a public garden that will help to naturally reduce the effect of the city's carbon emissions.

This sustainable park design will be built in downtown LA as an extension to the already existing Grand Park.

Known as 'FAB Park,' this park will be built with the intention of bringing together employees, locals and tourists. It is a celebration of LA's diversity and will represent the city with "food, art and land." The park will be surrounded by trees, have a beer garden, a restaurant and canopies for shade. The shade canopies will also function as solar panels for this sustainable park and the restaurant will be designed with rooftop vegetation. The architects hope to strive for a "net-zero energy rating and to handle all onsite storm water capture, treatment and infiltration."

The innovative design of this park coupled with its sustainable components will make a beautiful extension to the area.

This Initiative Uses Plants to Combat Rising Temperature

The city of Madrid, Spain, has embarked on a unique project that involves covering the city in plants in order to combat rising temperatures. As the effects of climate change become increasingly apparent, cities such as Madrid face challenges such as drought, floods and blisteringly hot days. Now the city is trying to adapt to these challenges by turning to nature.

Put simply, the new initiative involves covering the entire city in as much greenery as possible. Not only is the city expanding its existing parks, but it is also turning unused spaces such as vacant lots into urban gardens and adding greenery to rooftops. There are even plans to fix plants to outdoor walls to help insulate buildings and reduce noise pollution. Another benefit of the added greenery is lower temperatures because the plants release evaporated water that can produce clouds.

The initiative demonstrates one of the ways that cities are trying to combat rising temperatures and adapt to a changing global climate.

This massive urban garden design by Penda is located in Hyderabad, India and will be used to provide nearby residents with a beautiful communal space.

Penda uses Indian rectangular pools and decorative mazes as inspiration for the project, combining the two for a pyramid-like garden. With this shape, people can walk up and down each levels admiring the flowers and different plants that will be there and find a space of their own to relax in. The urban garden design will function as a place for people to sit with friends and neighbors, walk their dogs and enjoy the outdoors.

The garden maze will have three different routes in order to offer different spaces for certain activities. These will include a wide path, a narrow path, and a longer path that winds around the area.

This relaxing garden getaway designed by Hunt Architecture was made for a client who wanted to get away from the busy New York streets. Built in the backyard of a Brooklyn town home, the small studio can only hold a few items, including two chairs and a small table or a larger lounging space without furniture.

This structure bridges the gap between the outdoors and indoors, allowing for an abundance of natural light through a skylight and windows. The door can also be left open to let the breeze in. The studio is made from wood with white walls draping the interior. Although situated in the backyard, the private sanctuary only takes up a small portion and leaves the homeowner with plenty of green space surrounding it.

Mass public transit is a green, environmentally friendly mode of transportation on its own, and now Dutch firm Mecanoo Architecten is taking that concept to the extreme with a literally green train station. Like Grand Central or Tokyo Station, Kaohsiung Station will be the hub of the Taiwanese underground -- but, above ground, it will be lush with a verdant garden and park system.

The complete project consists of three layers: at bottom, the train station will carry more than 40,000 passengers daily. Above that is a sleek, open plaza with a skylight and wrap-around windows to maximize natural light access. Finally, on top will be the open air garden which will function as both a park and bicycle path.

The green train station will occupy 8.5 hectares within central Kaohsiung.