Mexico City is taking their gardens to new heights; With a population of 8.851 million and the congestions of streets, the people and government of Mexico City have seen the need for a new innovations that move towards bettering their own ecosystem as well as the shares Earth’s outcome.
In 1992, Mexico City was named the “Most polluted city” in the world by the united nations. Since that title was handed to them they have made strides towards bettering their air pollution and waste management. They slowly started making moves towards bettering their pollution in the 1980s when new policies were put in place regarding reformulating gasoline, closing toxic factories and putting bans on cars. However, The vertical gardens have become a way to scrub away the pollution from everyday life and the congestion of traffic. They also do a great job of improving the image of Mexico City after the title of “Most polluted city”.
The vertical gardens are doing their job of absorbing the stress of busses, cars, and taxis that choke the street of Mexico. However, the plants seem to be responding to that type of abuse. Some plants in the vertical gardens are wilting and falling dead because of the busyness of the street. Along with the everyday stress having an affect of the effectiveness of the plants, there is still controversy surrounding the idea. There is disbelief amount the people in Mexico that these gardens will work. The gardens do make the landscape look nice, but what the people want to know if they actually do anything to improve the environment. A strong opinion of the people is that it looks nice but is a waste of money. That is when exposure of the problem and urgency of the situation needs to be made public and more prominent. If people knew the kind of power plants hand they would demand more gardens and green space.
The vertical Gardens are not going to fix all the problems Mexico has with Pollution, but they are a beautiful and great way to start the movement into a brighter and healthier Mexico City.
Sources:
http://www.reuters.com/video/2016/08/15/mexico-city-raises-green-awareness-with?videoId=369577981
Principles of Urban Sustainability 
I do agree with some critics that I think these gardens will only have a small impact on that air quality of the city. I also agree with the point you made that it is a great starting point for trying to beautify the city and at the same time begin striving to improve the air quality. Support for small innovations such as this one is what is going to bring about change. If we don’t support the small things, the small things will not grow to have as big of an impact as they could.
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I think this is a great idea as it breaks away from the traditional cement look throughout the city. From these gardens will have an impact on social benefits and environmental benefits. Besides the main point of sustainability, this will also have a huge psychological impact on people who live in the city.
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This would be a great idea because that would give more green spaces in certain cities. If this happened in Chicago, Since there is more and more factories, this can help in clean and filter some of CO2 that is in the air. With more factories starting up, this would be a great idea.
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The idea of implementing the vertical landscapes has a lot of potential to create an interesting city landscape that is appealing to the eye. This, I believe, would have a greater impact because of the design aspect of the placement of the plants. People would not realize right away that the plants do more than just being decoration. They may not have a big impact but every small action can help. So bringing it to other cities would be very beneficial in the long run.
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To be honest, I understand the idea of having these kind of green designs around the city but I don’t think it would be making any change if the city is really as polluted as they say. I believe a better approach would be for local government to invest or provides new transportation initiatives. If vehicles are the main reason, new ways of traveling around Mexico City need to be developed.
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While vertical farming is a fast growing concept. Many architects oppose the idea of such practice as it poses inefficiencies in operations and program dynamics.
while green roof and feature green walls can be easily and effectively integrated in buildings, extreme vertical farmings measures can bring larger implications on building operations and cost.
Example-
1.green exterior wall for an office building will block sunlight in the interior thus reducing indoor quality and increasing lighting needs to name a few.
2. Vegetation act as insulation which we can not control with a meter. by providing insulation during times when it is no needed will require mechanical systems to work more, thus increasing energy use.
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I have to partially agree implementing this vertical landscape may have little positive impact on the environment. I do believe, however, that the vertical landscape is more of a way for Mexico City to bring in more tourism and to generate more capital. It is very beautiful, but I can see why many residents would be angered about the spending of resources on this vertical landscape.
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