Public and Private Economic Feasibility of Green Areas as a Passive Energy Measure: A Case Study in the Mediterranean City of Trapani in Southern Italy

Abstract

Green infrastructure in urban environments provides a wide range of ecological, social, aesthetic, and health co-benefits. Urban plant covers in particular contribute to improved outdoor environmental conditions that, in turn, influence the energy behavior of buildings and their indoor thermo-hygrometric comfort performance. Within this context, this study illustrates a methodology aimed at verifying the economic feasibility of alternative types of green areas for public and private stakeholders, which are analyzed as passive energy measures. Therefore, our methodology integrates approaches from different disciplines and consists of a microclimatic analysis of different vegetation scenarios and of the outdoor comfort level, an evaluation of the energy needs of a sample of houses, and an economic feasibility estimation considering different scenarios and public and private investors. The methodology is illustrated through its application to a suburban district of the Sicilian city of Trapani in the South of Italy, considered representative of Mediterranean climate conditions. Results showed significant differences between the scenario outcomes depending on the type of vegetation used in the green areas and put in evidence how economic feasibility for some stakeholders may be achieved in the management phase if adequate incentives equal to the planting cost are assumed.

A Bibliometric Analysis on Smart Cities Related to Land Use

“…When analyzing the number of publications per year, a growing trend can be detected, which allows the identification of three periods in the evolution of academic literature on the subject studied: initial (2013-2016); development (2017-2018), and notable expansion or growth (2019-2022). A total of 62.53% of the publications were produced in the period of expansion, so the issue of smart cities in relation to urban land use is a very relevant issue, which is consistent with the major current concerns associated with the environment, the cost of energy, and concern for the well-being of citizens, both at government and business levels [40][41][42][43][44]. When analyzing the number of publications per year, a growing trend can be detected, which allows the identification of three periods in the evolution of academic literature on the subject studied: initial (2013-2016); development (2017-2018), and notable expansion or growth (2019-2022).…”

Screening of Plants and Indigenous Bacteria to Improve Arsenic Phytoextraction

“…For example, the use of green roofs [23], known to be able to improve the energy and environmental performance of urban environments [24,25], combined with phytoremediation and bio-absorption techniques, have proven to be viable nature-based solutions, able to act as domestic wastewater treatment [26], improve the quality of roof runoff water [27], purify the air [28], and remove heavy metals [29], just to name a few. The promising results obtained should help to draw the attention of both public and private investors towards such green and sustainable approaches [30].…”

Green Roofs’ End of Life: A Literature Review

“…There are many reasons for green roof popularity, including the fact that they are able to reduce thermal (electrical) loads for cooling buildings [8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16], which in turn, other than reducing the environmental impact of buildings [17], returns better indoor and outdoor comfort conditions to occupants [15,18,19], and also for the objective of building energy certification [20]. They also contribute to the reduction in the "Urban Heat Island" phenomenon [21][22][23] as well as improve the urban CO2 balance due to their property of sequestering a significant amount of this greenhouse gas and improving air quality in cities [24][25][26].…”