Our Vision
“We are surrounded by heat islands and urban deserts.
We use far too much of our precious energy to cool buildings and find fresh food in cities.
Just as we now look back and find it hard to imagine a world without mobile communication, laptops and the internet, future generations will wonder why we covered our buildings with fired clay, stone, metal and tar for so long — instead of gardens.”
Why Kaatop
‘Kaá’ means ‘leaf’, ‘woodland’ and ‘forest’ in Tupi-Guarani, a language spoken by several Indigenous peoples of South America.
Despite their enormous potential, green roofs account for less than 1% of the global roofing market. The world keeps installing conventional roofs, adding to heat islands and building the desert cities of the future.
With that in mind, we created a product that makes it possible to replace many existing roofs with green roofs, including buildings that could not previously support one.
Our dream is to expand the use of green roofs and other urban green infrastructure so radically that nature becomes part of everyday life again.
Instituto Cidade Jardim is a Brazilian pioneer in green roof research, development and installation. Founded in 2008 by agronomist Sérgio Rocha and ecologist Fabiana Scarda, it aims to improve the urban climate, starting with rooftops.
With more than 120,000 m² of rooftop gardens installed throughout Brazil, the company works with leading landscape architecture, architecture and engineering firms. Its work is part of some of the country’s most significant projects.
Based in Itu, São Paulo, with a branch in Barcelona, Spain, we want Kaatop to make climate adaptation and mitigation more accessible across the roofing market by turning urban rooftops into carbon sinks.
Kaatop is a registered trademark of Instituto Cidade Jardim
Partners
