1. Name: Robin Rushdi Al-Salehi, Josephine Haraldh
Company: Gröna Grannar and WSP
Adress: Sernandersväg 1, 75261 Uppsala
Telephone: 076-70 656 62
Personal nr: 1994-01-24 – 6138, 1993-12-22 – 0768
The ”plant tunnel”
innovation
This business idea is confidential. Neither this business idea nor any of the
information contained herein may be reproduced or disclosed under any circumstances
without a written permission from the founder of Gröna Grannar.
2. Abstract
Uppsala is a city that is experiencing a lot of problems with the annual high rainfalls. These
rainfalls have especially been effecting the road Thycho Hedéns väg in Uppsala which has
now become a case competition where students are able to contribute with their ideas for
how to solve this problem for Uppsala Kommun and Uppsala Vatten. To handle the
stormwater that falls on that road and take care of the contamination from the road, which
are the problems this process is addressing, we at Gröna Grannar suggest that you should
build a “plant tunnel”. A plant tunnel that respects the fact that this solution has to be
innovative, has to fit with the structure analysis that SWECO delivered for the municipality
and has to be sustainable. A plant tunnel would be the best, cheapest and most beneficial
ecologically resilient solution for this problem. A plant tunnel that focuses on changing the
road, using stormwater and contributes to sustainability in multiple aspects. It will only be
sustainable, if collaboratively planned!
Analysis of the problem
Tycho Hedéns Väg in Uppsala and the area surrounding the road is the subject of this
paper. The area will be going through a transformation in the near future where the
surrounding areas (ditches, buffer zone for the old E4 road, some agricultural area) will be
transformed into a urban like area with new buildings and commercial space according to
the vision SWECO delivered for the municipality. If this vision becomes reality, this will
result in more hard surfaces in this area and even more stormwater to address. To not
make any unnecessary speculations as a student, writing a contribution, the problem is
told to be focused on the road and the fact that it's today a run off point for the water
3. accumulated at the higher reaches. This water floods and also sweeps up all the
contamination from everyday abrasion from the road and surrounding space which finds
it's way to Fyrisån. The problem that has to be addressed is the contamination and the
storm water levels. To deliver a suitable and sustainable contribution the innovation has to
be applicable and contain alternatives. This to make it more dynamic but also because this
contribution will not solely solve the problem but provide resilience, and resilience is
needed in different ways. This innovation will therefore provide with a bit more than just
one concrete and “master-plan-like” idea because Tycho Hedéns väg it self is used in
different ways (It tilts, has different water loads and different road connections). So please
enjoy a “plant tunnel” in all it's glory!
Solution Design
(Including Technic, Landscape and Sustainability issues)
Designing a plant tunnel while considering the analysis of the problem will provide multiple
benefits and solutions. In this paper I will start with explaining the benefits of building this
tunnel one way and by pointing out the problems with it take you as a reader further into a
variation of the tunnel. The concept is still the same but the innovation has to vary in order
to fit the road at different levels and for meeting the needs.
The vision we at Gröna Grannar have is to build a tunnel that keeps the water away from
the road and makes sure that the water that falls gets used in such a way that it wont be
contaminated from the excess from traffic and the daily abrasion from the city, especially
from the asphalt road and cars. The water will be captured and the contamination will be
purified by the plants and the soil as much as possible, but also by the natural
4. evapotranspiration that plants contribute with. The more plants and soil this construction
can hold or provide, the more will it absorb and use the water that will in turn not put
strains on the stormwater facilities.
By closing the road with a plant tunnel, the roof covered with grass (or similar) will be able
to absorb the water and capture it. The excess water will flow down from the roofs to the
walls holding the roof up that will in turn absorb and contain water inside it self and also
water the plants sprouting around it and on it (like a vertical stone coffin). The thicker the
“vertical stone coffins” are (aka the pillars of the structure), the better can they maintain
water, water the plants and the more plants can it have. These pillars can both be built as
a hollow construction that drips water to the plants or as a construction filled with soil that
sucks water and waters the plant through the soil (cost evaluation is needed). It will both
work as a plant roof, plant wall that will absorb water and a normal rain garden that will
purify and absorb even more water. So it's like a three dimensional ecological system that
takes care of it self and the issue at stake. There will also obviously be VVS installations
under the road capturing all the excess. Even though we don't have enough knowledge to
write to much about it, one thing we do know about are stone coffins that can be placed
under the road in such a way that it will capture all the water that the plants can't absorb.
5. These stone coffins can either be separated under the structure and road, or simply be the
rain gardens but deeply built. This water can in dryer times be used to water the plants on
the plant tunnel, like the plate people put under a plant pot. This construction will become
a barrier for the rain to minimize contamination but also a barrier for the surrounding area
and greenery. It will also of course make sure that water doesn't overflow everything near
by and use the rain in the most effective way.
The mere ecological benefits of this is the better air that the plants will provide. The plant
tunnel will absorb co2 from the atmosphere and will be a carbon capturing structure in a
carbon spewing environment. It will clean the air from multiple particles such as benzene,
formaldehyde, xylene, dust and other particles that form from everyday abrasion in the city
through its plants and the soil. This tunnel will increase the biological diversity in the area
by creating more natural space for animals and the increasing biological diversity in it self
will also help manage water levels like this example suggests
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysa5OBhXz-Q). This solution will be a part of the
hydrological cycle in the area reducing the load on the stormwater system by reducing the
volumes of water in the drainage.
6. The plant tunnel can also be a linkage to all the green roofs that hopefully will decorate the
roofs of all the new buildings built in SWECO's structure analysis. So imagine animal
bridges growing or built from the plant tunnel to the roofs like urban-vines
(http://twistedsifter.com/2012/07/animal-bridges-around-the-world/ ). This will
defiantly create new ways for biodiversity to thrive and live. This will also be beneficial for
the different stake and shareholders that would want to be a part of this structure, showing
their contribution and their ambition to make this place sustainable. It could become like
and advertisement that handles stormwater. Plant walls on facades should also be
something to put up which is simple and does a lot. Different environmental policies
encourage property owners to do this and get a better “sustainable seal” on their buildings,
so there is money to be used if this tunnel gets merged with surrounding buildings. If this
tunnel is built in segments (to take away the tunnel like feeling and open up where needs
be) these tunnels could become custom made for the different companies in the area for
their representation. This tunnel can also have built in windows so that plants inside can
thrive better and to take away the need of segmenting the tunnel for it to work better.
These are as you probably understand tips for how to overgrow the place with plants for
ecological and case reasons.
Another benefit with this “plant tunnel” innovation is that it creates plant cushions for
anything that wants to crash into it, depending on how it is built of course this innovation
could potentially save lives.
As I've pointed out earlier the plant tunnel is a solution that can be modified in various
ways to make it as good as possible in a particular place. An obvious thing to add to that is
7. to also pick and compose the plants out of different native plants. To ignite peoples
interest these can have their own sign explaining what it does and how it contributes to the
ecology, educating pedestrians. This will also display the botanical history of the city with
this new innovation.
Problems:
• If the roof is closed to sunlight the plants inside the tunnel wont survive, you need
windows or something similar. Some kind of light intake will be needed for the
tunnel itself as well because otherwise it wont feel as urban like but more like a
through fare.
• A closed tunnel will not be suitable everywhere as some traffic wont be able to work
correctly or firemen will have trouble with their work as this tunnel lies in an urban
like space.
• Watering the plants (needs to be figured out further)
• What plants to use and maintaining them inside the tunnel
8. • How to make sure that earth doesn't drip from the roof (a close structure would
cope with this)
• Needs to be built high for all traffic to pass by (depends on what traffic that will be
allowed to move there)
Solutions and variations
A variation of the “plant tunnel” is to skip the roof on the road for the cars (or even the
pedestrians/bicycled) and replace it with tilted solar panels. These solar panels will solve
the problem that comes with having a closed ceiling and the different traffic that runs on
the road such as fire trucks. The solar panels will provide with electricity and as they tilt
they cover the cars from rain, snow, other factors and tilt everything to fall on the green
walls that will contain the water and use it as described earlier. No salt needed for the
snow, no gravel, no maintenance of the road, the weather will hopefully have a minimal
impact on the road and people under it. These solar panels will themselves create other
opportunity that need electricity such as having a pump for the plant tunnel, pumping away
water to basins in runabouts, florescent light bulbs for the plants or other carbon capturing
structures. The sky is the limit with having electricity at hand.
Having a “Plant tunnel” with a open roof creates as you understand new possibilities.
Instead of having solar panels you could use the “vertical space” for even higher vertical
gardens or taller plants such as birch. The purpose with a “plant tunnel” is to create a
space that is very concentrated with plants that can both withstand Uppsalas normal
climate but also the extreme weathers that can develop. They can simply absorb more
9. water then. If you need to scale this up, you can easily add more walls that could work as
noise protection walls or lower plant walls that separate the different roads. The more walls
and plants you can plant in them, the better can you get all the benefits explained in this
paper.
In the second picture you can see that the roads are made out of asphalt, but the great
thing with the SWECO plan is that they want to make the road single filed and reduce the
amount of car traffic in the area, they want to speed things down. To capture even more
stormwater, reduce the amount of material that causes contamination, reduce the traffic
speed and make it more secure and aesthetic we propose an alternative to asphalt roads,
the Grasscrete (http://www.grasscrete.com/docs/paving/grassblock.html). An alternative
that optimizes the drainage of the road but also as an absorber with the grass in between
the springs of the blocks. It's like the swedish “kullersten” but with grass and soil in
between. I tweeted with the company that said that this grasscrete wont work for highways
but smaller less trafficated roads should not be any problem. To avoid killing the grass
during winter times and the salt put on the roads, they recommended a saline tolerant
grass mix but also pointed out that the cellular grid structure of the blocks naturally permits
grip for the cars. So no salt is actually needed.
We highly recommend the alternative above as it would have the best solution for the
stormwater and contamination problem, but if it wouldn't work in some parts of the road,
simply to replace the asphalt road would do great and for this we have a second
alternative, the solar roads (http://www.solarroadways.com/intro.shtml). These roads have
led markings, traffic sensors, crash sensors, heated roads during winter and of course
10. provide electricity, more then expected (http://www.solaroad.nl/en/). This will reduce the
amount of abrasion form roads, tires and give the plants better water to absorb. By having
these roads you can replace the tilted solar panels with something else and as I mentioned
earlier, higher vertical plant structures that could work with the electricity generated to suck
the water from the road during rainfalls (sensors that feel when it has to be pumped) and
for example takes the water up to the green roofs of the buildings or other parts of the road
and surrounding area to water where it's needed.
The main purpose for me with the “plant tunnel” is to make it as self sustaining as possible
with low maintenance, if any, and self sufficient from the habitat its structured around. It
should be constructed so that minimum energy is needed, water, virgin material and rather
made out of recycled material. But depending on what is needed, as you can understand,
this can be developed. The structure wants to use as much of the stuff that is “already
there”. That is the most sustainable way of building or creating something, if you use what
you have. A small note is that the “plant tunnel” could also in fact provide Uppsala Vatten
with organic material for biogas if needs be, form all the plants. A new source for their
facilities.
A plant tunnel will also provide with shade for people but also the road so that the amount
tropospheric ozone that kills organisms and is very damaging for people, is reduced.
Tropospheric ozone is made out of the sun rays hitting the exhaust from cars that e.g.
imbalance the water in plants and is damaging for peoples lungs. The “plant tunnel” itself
wants to contribute to lowering the tropospheric ozone as much as possible with plants
absorbing the exhaust, shading, lowering the abrasion and reducing the speed of the cars.
11. You can read more about tropospheric ozone here http://ozoneaware.org/what/. To take
away the cars would of course be the best solution, and with the electricity that this road is
providing with through it's variations, cars could potentially be replaced with something
else.
If the amount of cars are significantly reduced, this “plant tunnel” could provide with
enough soil to grow ecological and locally grown food for people passing by to eat. The
facts behind growing edibles close to roads are different but sheds some light making this
a possibility (http://sverigesradio.se/sida/artikel.aspx?programid=3411&artikel=3687194). If
there will be enough housing in the area, this “plant tunnel” could become self maintaining
by giving people the chance to use the tunnel for their own planting. If you build more
vertical pillars along the road or separated from the road, you will have elevated growing
beds for a local community to plant on. A perfect way to get people out in the warmer
months, get people interested and have activity beside the shops and office complexes. As
Jane Jacobs states in her book “The death and life of great American cities” what you want
to do to make this new part of Uppsala “democratic” is to open up a “space” where people
can be public, active and stimulated by the environment (Jacobs 2004). Another way of
doing this is using the surrounding space as a square with a bazaar that is growing edibles
through the plant tunnel. A Bazaar is a great way of getting people out to a square and eat
together, just look at Hötorget in Stockholm. FOR – Fritidsodlingsens riksorganisation does
however not recommend to plant food close to a road. They conducted a small study a
couple of year ago around this matter and came with the conclusion that plants should be
12. grown 25-30 m from the road, washed before used and have fiber cloth over the plants. A
very small study though and this should be looked into.
Other benefits with building this “plant wall” are the psychological and health ones. The
benefits that effect us people when we surround ourselves with nature. To see seasons
display themselves in leafs, berries, fruits, vegetables, herbs, flowers and the effect it has
on us. This is something you as a reader already know but perhaps needs to be enlighten
with again and I highly recommend you to read some of the benefits here
http://www.greenroofs.org/index.php/about/greenroofbenefits /
http://depts.washington.edu/hhwb/Thm_Mental.html /
https://www.treepeople.org/resources/tree-benefits. There are a lot more benefits to this
but putting them all in this paper would take up to much space.
To complement this idea a very simple and obvious thing to do is to use the space in
roundabouts turning them into small ponds or detention basins. A construction design
would be to build in a sewage system at the end of the road (the lower part of it) and let
the water travel under the road of the roundabouts to flow up into the pond/basin. In the
roundabouts the pond should have sediments and plants that take care of the big amounts
of pollutants that the plant tunnel doesn't take care of from its everyday abrasion and
rainfalls. So the ponds in the roundabouts take care of the big flows of contamination that
passes through the plant tunnel if this will be needed.
Implementation Plan
13. -Time line+Budget
Depending on how critical the stormwater problem is, the cost of the project will differ. If
you need a fully grown plant tunnel right now, then you will need to invest more then letting
a plant tunnel grow into itself. The time line is therefore very much depending on how you
want to implement it. The budget also differs because you might want to built
the tunnel in different ways in different places. A budget is hard for me to
create because I don't know how much the material costs is, but the bigger
question is how much would it cost if we leave it? Having a budget is not a
sustainable way of solving a problem because this problem could develop
into new problems. A budget is a frame that often is overreached. It should
cost and there are ways of financing it without a doubt.
The various alternatives give you as judges perspective on how this “plant tunnel” can
develop and what element should be put where. The money issue can also be solved by
using a variation that is more cost effective if needs be. My perspective on the matter
though is to spend as much as is needed.
-Stakeholders+Partners
The fact that Uppsala Municipality owns the road and the space between buildings gives
them the perfect opportunity to implement this idea and design it as they wish. I think
stakeholders around the road and partners would be very interested in helping you
develop this idea and have their own contribution to make a plant tunnel connected to their
14. specific enterence. This is also a perfect way to market this new part of the city in a way
that has not been done before.
-Comercialization potencial
This solution uses what is already there and what is already being known, that plants are
the best solver of stormwater problems and contamination in nature. Using the road and a
solution that grows vertically, the solution will only get better and better with years, saving
lots of money in a lot of perspectives.
If Uppsala will be the first ones out there making a plant tunnel that address stormwater
issues in trafficked roads and successfully managing the stormwater, this will become a
huge commercial infrastructural solution for the whole world that has similar problems. If
they make a special design that will optimize this innovation then the patent will be a
perfect way of making a lot of money.
This innovation could very easily be scaled up to include more roads and passages. This
innovation already gives an example of reaching over the plant tunnel to include
pedestrian roads but could be even more. The innovation however doesn't have a “one”
patent that could be commercialised and sold to the world but a combination of ideas that
could become a vision and creative design for the rest of the world to copy with swedish
expertise.
-Problems and challenges
15. How high this tunnel has to be to make it possible for all sorts of vehicles to move through
is a question that trafikverket has to answer because depending on what the road will be
seen as (it will be narrower and will be used by more then just cars) some limits will be
implemented that will decide the height and the structure of the plant tunnel. See:
http://www.trafikverket.se/Foretag/Bygga-och-underhalla/Vag/Bro-och-
tunnel/
Where to have soil and what plants to have is also something to get into but I wouldn't say
is a problem. There are a lot of highly educated people in this area that can give their
views on the matter.
How to make this a solution that will not be needing any additional water and low
maintenance needs. A self sustaining construction that will be needing some expertise but
not really a challenge either.
To make this plant tunnel withstand all seasons of the year. A mix of different plants that
can be formed into a plant tunnel that will make sure that as much as possible of the snow
that falls will not be contaminated.
E.Reference
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysa5OBhXz-Q
