Plants will be used to greenwash developments until landscape architecture is given a bigger role in urban planning says French landscape architect Céline Baumann.

Baumann, whose work is one of 40 visions for the future of architecture currently on display at the Royal Academy of Arts in London, warned that plants on buildings are often a distraction from a development's less eco-friendly qualities.
"Greenery is unfortunately too often used as an alibi for new developments, by wrapping buildings in green as sole legitimisation of an otherwise unsustainable project," Baumann told Dezeen. "Green surfaces such as walls and roofs are often very high maintenance and demands a lot of water and chemicals to thrive."
Commodifying nature can lead to higher pollution
Many new developments are incorporating vertical forests, green roofs, urban farms and living walls. But unless these are deployed properly and sensitively, she said, they give little benefit ? or are even actively harmful.
"Greenery is not per se ecological, and the commodification of nature can lead in fact to reduced biodiversity and higher pollution levels," said Baumann.
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