Assessing the influence of neighbourhood-scale vertical greening application

Abstract

The warming climate is expected to increase environmental thermal loading on urban buildings. Green infrastructure enhancements have been widely supported as a means to address the resulting heat-related risks, with the challenge of realising enhancements in densely built cities necessitating the consideration of vegetated architectural features. Early efforts promoted horizontal greening, although in recent years 'vertical greening' has gained increased prominence. This paper examines the hypothesis that the wider implementation of the latter typology could serve to enhance urban climate resilience, and does so by applying an analysis pathway including the coupling of a novel onedimensional vertical greening model (VGM) with an urban climate simulation framework to estimate the microclimate and energy-use implications of neighbourhood-scale vertical greening. The simulation results highlighted immediate thermal relief to canyon pedestrians, as well as net annual space-conditioning energy savings for the canyon buildings. These benefits, however, were modest, with a relatively pronounced influence offered for the urban neighbourhood than suburban, and with the living wall category than green facade application. Although the annual savings present potential for the wider implementation in temperate climates, the influence is insufficient to offer it as an exclusive solution, with any widescale application also requiring assessment against other ecosystem benefits and maintenance costs. 104 Gunawardena and Steemers Buildings and Cities

Integrating Solar Energy and Nature-Based Solutions for Climate-Neutral Urban Environments

“…In a detailed five-month experimental campaign conducted in the milder and temperate climate of London (GHI: 1077 kWh/m 2 /y), Doick et al (2014) [96] measured temperature variations in a large greenspace, Kensington Gardens (111 ha) with two ponds (4.9 ha and 2.8 ha), and compared the results with measurements in an adjacent area. They found that the greenery cooled the adjacent space by 1.1 [97] conducted extensive computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modelling and found that a two-hectare green park with a leaf area index (LAI) of 3.16 (forty-five fifty-year-old trees per hectare) could achieve a 4.8 • C air temperature reduction during summertime.…”