Vertical greenery systems: from plants to trees with self-growing interconnections

Abstract

The integration of buildings into vegetation has become a necessity in many metropolitan areas of the world today. It expands the potential of vertical and horizontal, exterior and interior, exposed and enclosed spaces in a building that can be used to accommodate plants. Green infrastructures have benefits both on urban and building scales. They can be categorized into green roofs and vertical greenery systems that can be divided further into green façade, green wall, green terraces, elevated forest and vertical forest. There are many design and planting considerations for architects, structural engineers and botanists when using living architectures to mimic natural systems, such as plant characteristics and environmental conditions. Plants used for vertical greenery are more likely to be hardwood species to adjust solar radiation during cooling and heating periods, as well as for aesthetic pleasure. Take Bosco Verticale, which is located in Milan, as an example to look into engineering methods when trees grow on balconies of high-rise buildings. It can be concluded that planting restraint safety systems and regular maintenance are necessary for the tree growth in the sky. However, the change in growing conditions causes various problems such as stability and irregular growth of trees. Instead of using steel cables and cages to prevent trees from falling off in the sky, the concept of self-growing connections is proposed to act as natural bracings and provide the stability for vertical forests. This paper is meant to generate awareness of the possibilities of the vertical integration of trees into buildings, show application considerations, and inspire future developments.

Nature-based solutions in the urban context: terminology, classification and scoring for urban challenges and ecosystem services

“…Therefore, the later name was adopted because it was encountered in a higher number of articles than the surveyed names and it has been widely applied in literature to differentiate this type of green wall from other typologies Widiastuti et al, 2020;Wang et al, 2020;May Tzuc et al, 2021). For NBS 28, none of the surveyed names have been commonly cited in scientific literature (less than 10 documents were found).…”

Living walls enhancing the urban realm: a review

“…Away from the daily hassle of life, a person usually finds such places peaceful and calming. In contrast, prevailing urban lifestyle trends have been causing serious economic, social, environmental and health issues (Ghazalli et al 2018 ; Grimm and Schindler 2018 ; Wang et al 2020 ). Growing migration to cities has rapidly increased the urban population density which in turn has led to a shortage of adequate infrastructure and affordable housing for residents (Kabisch and Haase 2014 ).…”

“…Living walls are a solution that offer the possibility of being surrounded by nature and benefit people of all classes and improves wellbeing (M 2009 ; Muahram et al 2019 ). Greenery promotes the development of better concentration, memory, productivity, creativity and facilitates healing (M 2009 ; Wang et al 2020 ). Plants additionally provide health benefits by reducing blood pressure, tension, fear, stress, anger and sadness (Boulton et al 2018 ; Muahram et al 2019 ; Xia et al 2021 ).…”

“…Plants additionally provide health benefits by reducing blood pressure, tension, fear, stress, anger and sadness (Boulton et al 2018 ; Muahram et al 2019 ; Xia et al 2021 ). They help in improving people’s mood, reducing the usage of medication and length of stay in the hospitals (Boulton et al 2018 ; M 2009 ; Wang et al 2020 ).…”

Designing multifunctional urban agroforestry with people in mind

“…Building‐integrated UAF on rooftops, cantilevered balconies, or elevated terraces or at ground level could be the most efficient approach to integrating UAF with the metabolism of the city in ways that enhance its circularity and sustainability. Extensive and intensive green roofs are increasingly common forms of urban GI, and interest in vertical greenery systems is growing (Wang et al., 2020). Rooftop UA with annual crops provides multiple ecosystem services including stormwater management, thermal regulation of both building and the ambient environment, food production, recreation, biodiversity conservation, and employment (Specht et al., 2014).…”