The urban roof garden in Manhattan and other cities may have a significant precedent in ancient Pompeii! 

The landscape design of the Villa of the Mysteries preserved from Pompeii, AD 79 shows an entranceway which led to the peristyle, followed by the atrium and an extensive terraced gardens surrounded the villa on three non-entrance sides.  

The desire to create an aerial oasis recreationally at the Villa of the Mysteries could possibly be the same as at a firehouse 2,000 years later.  In an article from the year 1912...