scholarly journals Green Roofs and Greenpass

Buildings ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (9) ◽  
pp. 205 ◽  
Author(s):  
Scharf ◽  
Kraus
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Thermal Comfort ◽  
Green Infrastructure ◽  
Climate Adaptation ◽  
Urban Climate ◽  
Green Roofs ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
Assessment System ◽  
Urban Energy Balance

The United Nations have identified climate change as the greatest threat to human life. As current research shows, urban areas are more vulnerable to climate change than rural areas. Numerous people are affected by climate change in their daily life, health and well-being. The need to react is undisputed and has led to numerous guidelines and directives for urban climate adaptation. Plants are commonly mentioned and recommended as one key to urban climate adaptation. Due to shading of open space and building surfaces, as well as evapotranspiration, plants reduce the energy load on the urban fabric and increase thermal comfort and climate resilience amongst many other ecosystem services. Plants, therefore, are described as green infrastructure (GI), because of the beneficial effects they provide. Extensive green roofs are often discussed regarding their impact on thermal comfort for pedestrians and physical properties of buildings. By means of Stadslab2050 project Elief Playhouse in Antwerp, Belgium, a single-story building in the courtyard of a perimeter block, the effects of different extensive green roof designs (A and B) on the microclimate, human comfort at ground and roof level, as well as building physics are analyzed and compared to the actual roofing (bitumen membrane) as the Status Quo variant. For the analyses and evaluation of the different designs the innovative Green Performance Assessment System (GREENPASS®) method has been chosen. The planning tool combines spatial and volumetric analyses with complex 3D microclimate simulations to calculate key performance indicators such as thermal comfort score, thermal storage score, thermal load score, run-off and carbon sequestration. Complementary maps and graphs are compiled. Overall, the chosen method allows to understand, compare and optimize project designs and performance. The results for the Elief Playhouse show that the implementation of green roofs serves a slight contribution to the urban energy balance but a huge impact on the building and humans. Variant B with entire greening performs better in all considered indicators, than the less greened design Variant A and the actual Status Quo. Variant B will probably bring a greater cost/benefit than Variant A and is thus recommended.

scholarly journals The impact of climate change will hit urban dwellers first – Can green infrastructure save us?

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rüdiger Grote
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Green Infrastructure ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Heat Waves ◽  
Green Roofs ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Island Effect ◽  
Large Numbers ◽  
Urban Heat ◽  
The Impact

Two phenomena that can cause large numbers of premature human deaths have gained attention in the last years: heat waves and air pollution. These two effects have two things in common: They are closely related to climate change and they are particularly intense in urban areas. Urban areas are particular susceptible to these impacts because they can store lots of heat and have little opportunity for cooling off (also known as the urban heat island effect). In order to mitigate these impacts and to establish an environment that protects human health and improve well-being, implementation of green infrastructure – trees, green walls, and green roofs – is commonly proposed as a remedy. More trees, hedges and lawns are intuitively welcome by people living in cities for their beautifying effects, but to which degree can such greening actually counterbalance the expected effects of climate change? In this review I would like to investigate what science can offer to answer this question.

scholarly journals Nature-based cooling potential: a multi-type green infrastructure evaluation in Toronto, Ontario, Canada

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vidya Anderson ◽  
William A. Gough
Keyword(s):  
Urban Agriculture ◽  
Air Temperature ◽  
Green Infrastructure ◽  
Urban Climate ◽  
Surface Air Temperature ◽  
Green Roofs ◽  
Near Surface ◽  
Green Walls ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Agriculture Systems

AbstractThe application of green infrastructure presents an opportunity to mitigate rising temperatures using a multi-faceted ecosystems-based approach. A controlled field study in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, evaluates the impact of nature-based solutions on near surface air temperature regulation focusing on different applications of green infrastructure. A field campaign was undertaken over the course of two summers to measure the impact of green roofs, green walls, urban vegetation and forestry systems, and urban agriculture systems on near surface air temperature. This study demonstrates that multiple types of green infrastructure applications are beneficial in regulating near surface air temperature and are not limited to specific treatments. Widespread usage of green infrastructure could be a viable strategy to cool cities and improve urban climate.

scholarly journals Green Roofs and Walls Design Intended to Mitigate Climate Change in Urban Areas across All Continents

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 2245
Author(s):  
Fernando Barriuso ◽  
Beatriz Urbano
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Urban Climate ◽  
Environmental Pollutants ◽  
Climate Extremes ◽  
Green Roofs ◽  
Urban Greening ◽  
Runoff Water ◽  
Growing Seasons ◽  
Urban Stormwater Runoff

Green roofs and walls can mitigate the environmental and climate change of a city. They can decrease the urban heat island (UHI), reduce greenhouse gas emissions, fix environmental pollutants, manage urban stormwater runoff, attenuate noise, and enhance biodiversity. This paper aims to analyse green roofs and walls in the possible mitigation of urban climate change and compare it by continent. Green roofs and walls might decrease the air temperature in a city up to 11.3 °C and lower the thermal transmittance into buildings up to 0.27 W/m2 K. Urban greening might sequester up to 375 g C·m−2 per two growing seasons and increase stormwater retention up to 100%. Urban greening might attenuate city noise up to 9.5 dB. The results found green roofs and walls of varied effectiveness in ameliorating climate extremes present in host continents. Results show urban planners might focus on green roofs and walls exposure to attenuate temperatures in hotter Asian cities and advise greening in cities in Africa and Asia. European and American designers might optimise runoff water capacity of green roofs and walls systems and use greening in old buildings to improve insulation. Recommendations are made based on the study to concentrate certain designs to have greater impact on priority climate challenges, whether UHI or stormwater related. This study provides information for decision and policymakers regarding design and exposure of green roofs and walls to mitigate urban environmental and climate change.

scholarly journals A renewed approach : exploring Toronto’s relationship to biophilia

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexis Beale
Keyword(s):  
Health Policy ◽  
Human Health ◽  
Green Infrastructure ◽  
Positive Relationship ◽  
Green Roofs ◽  
Well Being

The positive benefits of biophilia in cities is well documented. Furthermore, the positive relationship between human well-being and nature plays an important role in cities. This paper will discuss the role of nature in cities and how it promotes both environmental and human health, with the ultimate goal of developing a framework that will help Toronto become a partner city of the Biophilic Cities Network. KEYWORDS biodiversity, biophilia, biophilic cities network, green Infrastructure, green roofs, health, policy, Toronto

scholarly journals Urban Green Infrastructure Framework for Housing Climate Resilience

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fahmyddin Araaf Tauhid
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Green Infrastructure ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Public Awareness ◽  
Urban Climate ◽  
Management Plan ◽  
Climate Impact ◽  
Urban Housing ◽  
Urban Resilience ◽  
Climate Resilience

Climate change is affecting urban areas by increasing the intensity and frequency of climate-related disasters such as flooding, sea level rise, drought, etc. The trend is expected to rise significantly without proper intervention. Urban housings as the concentration of people and economic growth are the most impacted. This condition calls to study green infrastructure/GI strategies as a more sustainable way than the conventional. Such GI approach not only mitigate and adapt the impacts but also improve the urban climate resilience, particularly in the housing sector. Therefore, this study aims to propose a conceptual framework to integrate the elements for the implementation of GI for mitigating and adapting climate impact for urban resilience improvement. This study identified elements to employ GI for housing climate resilience: public awareness; land use and development regulation; land and property acquisition; environmental management plan; housing strategy; fiscal and taxation; and governance. This framework is a new tool for scoping and assessing urban housing vulnerability to climate change by helping stakeholders to systematically consider the benefit to introduce GI scheme in respective efforts.

scholarly journals From City- to Site-Dimension: Assessing the Urban Ecosystem Services of Different Types of Green Infrastructure

Land ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (5) ◽  
pp. 150 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrycia Brzoska ◽  
Aiga Spāģe
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Urban Planning ◽  
Green Infrastructure ◽  
Green Roofs ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Urban Ecosystem ◽  
Primary Data ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Small Scale Structures

Cities have a wide variety of green infrastructure types, such as parks and gardens. These structures can provide important ecosystem services (ES) with a major impact on human well-being. With respect to urban planning, special consideration must be given to such green infrastructure types when implementing measures to maintain and enhance the quality of life. Therefore, generating knowledge on the urban ES of differently scaled green infrastructure types is important. This systematic literature review provides an overview of existing studies which have explicitly investigated the urban ES of differently spatial-scaled green infrastructure types. By reviewing 76 publications, we confirm rising academic interest in this topic. The most frequently assessed urban ES belong to the category Regulating and Maintenance. Only a few have considered individual small structures such as green roofs or single gardens; green spaces are often aggregated into one, mostly city-wide, object of investigation, with resulting oversimplifications. Moreover, generalizing methods are mostly applied. Simultaneously, many studies have applied methods to evaluate location-specific primary data. More research is needed on small-scale structures, in particular to consider site-, and thus location-specific, parameters in order to successfully implement the ES concept into urban planning and to obtain realistic results for ES assessments.

Modelling population displacement: both climate change and population growth heighten displacement risk due to river floods. 

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pui Man Kam
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Climate Models ◽  
Climate Adaptation ◽  
Population Change ◽  
Hydrological Cycle ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Vulnerable Groups ◽  
Physical And Mental Health ◽  
Population Displacement ◽  
Displaced People

<p>Disaster displacements create hardships, particularly for socio-economically vulnerable groups. Displaced people face heightened risks to their well-being, including their physical and mental health and personal security. Assisting displaced people is an important part of any humanitarian response to disasters.</p><p>Among weather-related disasters, river flooding is responsible for a large part of population displacement. River flood risk is expected to increase due to climate change and its effects on the hydrological cycle. At the same time, socioeconomic development scenarios indicate substantial increases of population in many regions that experience flood-induced displacement.</p><p>We have modelled projected changes to flood-driven population displacement in the 21<sup>st</sup> Century with the CLIMADA (CLIMate ADAptation) platform, in collaboration with the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre.</p><p>We show that both climate and population change are projected to lead to an increase of relative global flood displacement risk by roughly 350% by the end of the century. If we keep the population fixed at present levels, we find a roughly 150% increase in relative global flood displacement risk by the end of the century, or a 50% increase of risk per degree of global warming. We model displacement probabilities as a function of population density, flood depth and flood fraction.</p><p>Although the resolution of the global model is limited, the effect of climate change is robust across greenhouse gas concentration scenarios, climate models and hydrological models. Our work potentially enables the creation of a displacement early warning system.</p>

What the Science Tells Us about Climate Change

2020 ◽  
pp. 19-42
Author(s):  
Janis Sarra
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Global Warming ◽  
Food Security ◽  
Climate Adaptation ◽  
Production Systems ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Negative Impacts ◽  
Current Science ◽  
Health And Well Being ◽  
Impacts Of Climate Change

Chapter 2 offers an analysis of the state of science and its direct implications for business. It explores how the physical impacts of climate change are already evident, discussing impacts on human health and well-being; on food security and food production systems; on the ecosystems of oceans, lands, and wetlands; and impacts on freshwater resources and on the cryosphere. The chapter examines the concept of climate tipping points and the implications for businesses. It also explores why mitigation is crucially important to reversing the negative impacts of climate change and discusses why climate adaptation is important and necessary, but not, in itself, sufficient to change the current trajectory of global warming. The chapter focuses particularly on what companies need to know about the current science on climate change.

scholarly journals Engaging the Private Homeowner: Linking Climate Change and Green Stormwater Infrastructure

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (12) ◽  
pp. 4791 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Beery
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Focus Group ◽  
Green Infrastructure ◽  
Stormwater Management ◽  
Public Perception ◽  
Climate Adaptation ◽  
Extreme Rainfall ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
Private Landowner ◽  
Green Stormwater Infrastructure

Current and projected climate change in the Minnesota Lake Superior Coastal Area indicates an increase in frequency and intensity of extreme rainfall. One key outcome of this change is a subsequent potential increase in stormwater runoff, a concern exacerbated by the region’s shallow, often clay soils and exposed bedrock, along with highly impervious urban surfaces. This situation, coupled with public perception of climate change that is increasingly inclusive of severe weather, highlights an opportunity to apply green infrastructure to the challenge of stormwater management, referred to as green stormwater infrastructure. In addition to coordinated public action at local, state, and national levels, there is a role for the private landowner to participate in this form of climate adaptation. Private citizens have an opportunity to both protect their home and property while contributing to overall stormwater management for the community in which they live. Focus group research was conducted to better understand outreach and involve local residents in the creation of a tool to assist private green stormwater infrastructure efforts. Results of the focus group sessions were analyzed, and key themes emerged from the data to guide this process and support private home/landowner action. It is recommended that a fifth domain be added to the typology for public and private roles in climate adaptation, i.e. private adaptation for public and private benefit.

scholarly journals Green Infrastructure in the Urban Environment: A Systematic Quantitative Review

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (11) ◽  
pp. 3182 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jackie Parker ◽  
Maria Elena Zingoni de Baro
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Green Infrastructure ◽  
Industrial Revolution ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The United States ◽  
Research Area ◽  
Extreme Weather Events ◽  
Health Trends ◽  
Geological Information

Increased levels of greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere, a legacy of the industrial revolution, population growth pressures, and consumerist lifestyle choices, are the main contributors to human-induced climate change. Climate change is commensurate of warming temperatures, reductions in rainfall, increased frequency of extreme weather events, and contributions toward declining public health trends. Green Infrastructure (GI) presents diverse opportunities to mediate adverse effects, while simultaneously delivering human health, well-being, environmental, economic, and social benefits to contemporary urban dwellers. To identify the current state of GI knowledge, a systematic quantitative literature review of peer-reviewed articles (n = 171) was undertaken using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) method. Temporal publication trends, geographical and geological information of research efforts, as well as research focus areas were recorded and reported against each article. The findings of this review confirm the research area to be in a state of development in most parts of the world, with the vast majority of the research emerging from the United States, Australia, and the United Kingdom. Cooler climates produced the majority of research, which were found largely to be of a traditional research article format. The GI research area is firmly dominated by foci comprising planning and policy, environmental and ecological, and social content, although modest attempts have also appeared in health and wellbeing, economic, and quality/performance of green infrastructure areas. Knowledge gaps identified by this review as requiring attention for research growth were identified as: (i) the ambiguity of terminology and the limited broad understanding of GI, and (ii) the absence of research produced in the continents of Asia and South America, as well as in regions with warmer climates, which are arguably equally valuable research locations as cooler climate bands.

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