Rooftop gardens, typical. Green-roofed buses, a breath of fresh air. Marc Granen, a landscape artist from Spain, created a prototype of the first Phyto Kinetic garden, a fully functioning garden-on-the-go. Affixed to the bus’s roof utilizing lightweight steel, mesh, and foam systems, the rooftop garden is watered by the condensation collected from the air conditioning unit. Granen suggests that each system could create over 100,000 square-meters of air-purifying green space in metropolitan areas.

His primary goal is to reduce the heat island effect, increase biodiversity and green space, and help buses run more efficiently. The only downside of the garden is the extra weight that adds to the bus’s fuel costs. However, Granen says that the garden cools buses by 40 degrees, saving a significant amount of energy.

Granen’s design has been implemented on a tourist bus in Spain, carrying people to and from their campsites. Forward thinking, he hopes to “en-garden” thousands of buses in New York, L.A., Madrid, Tokyo, Berlin, Rio and Delhi.

What sparked our fire: The proactive measures artists are taking to add fresh air to our concrete jungles.

Where will gardens pop up next? In the subway? On top of taxis?