Using the roof of a city building for something fabulous is a very old idea. The Hanging Gardens of Babylon made it famous 2500 years ago. Madison Square Garden, at the turn of the 20th
Hundertwasser Art Centre, Madison Square Garden - exemplars of the rooftop revolution
In other cities you can find rooftop vegetable allotments, tiny homes, community workshops and butterfly gardens. In Singapore, an urban farm on top of a shopping mall provides food for the restaurants within.
There's an art installation on a rooftop in the Austrian city of Linz that aims to create "a friendly, yet unknown world", something that is "physical and meditative at the same time". The whole thing is a kind of labyrinth made from billowing red fabric - but don't worry, apparently there's a safe space in the middle.
Lots of cities have rooftop golf. And in Munich, on top of a building full of startups and creative enterprises, they're farming a small herd of very woolly sheep.
In Whangārei, the new Hundertwasser Art Centre has its own rooftop garden. Gorgeous art inside, too.
Design for Living is a regular series in Canvas magazine.