The story linked to this post is about the art of the possible.
A lot of the earth is covered with roofs, especially in urban areas. There are multiple roof construction and renovation experiments. Here are a few:
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- Solar panels are mounted on roofs to generate electricity or heat water.
- Green roofs provide gardening opportunities and insulate the residents below from excessive heating and cooling.
- Sponge roofs, which gather water during precipitation events and release it slowly to water plants or flush toilets.
Some buildings have a mixture of these innovations.
Enter the naysayers (internal or external), “The roofs of existing buildings weren’t designed to do more than be a roof. They can’t support innovations.”
Then there are the roof adapters. Unlike the naysayers, the adapters ask, “What is possible on this roof?”
Shifting the to homelessness, is there room for a bit more of the adapter mentality that we see on roofs? Rather than following the familiar approach of clearing encampments why not ask, “What else is possible to end homelessness?”
Read more about roof adapters in The Guardian: ‘On every roof something is possible’: how sponge cities could change the way we handle rain
