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.

Re-thinking “Smart City” – transferring urban climate research into city planning processes

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joachim Fallmann ◽  
Hans Schipper ◽  
Stefan Emeis ◽  
Marc Barra ◽  
Holger Tost
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Smart City ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
City Planning ◽  
Transport Model ◽  
Urban Climate ◽  
Metropolitan Region ◽  
Air Pollution Control ◽  
Urban Greening ◽  
Holistic Understanding

<p>With more and more people residing in cities globally, urban areas are particularly vulnerable to climate change. It is therefore important, that the principles of climate-resilient city planning are reflected in the planning phase already. A discussion of adaptation measures requires a holistic understanding of the complex urban environment, and necessarily has to involve cross-scale interactions, both spatially and temporally. This work examines the term “Smart City” with regard to its suitability for the definition of sustainable urban planning based on urban climate studies over the past decade and own modelling work. Existing literature is assessed from a meteorological perspective in order to answer the question how results from these studies can be linked to architectural design of future urban areas. It has been long understood that measures such as urban greening, or so-called "Nature Based Solutions", are able to dampen excess heat and help reducing energetic costs. As numerous studies show however, integrating vegetation in the urban landscape shares a double role in regional adaptation to climate change due to both cooling effect and air pollution control. Using the state-of-the-art chemical transport model MECO(n) coupled to the urban canopy parametrisation TERRA_URB, we simulated a case study for the Rhine-Main metropolitan region in Germany, highlighting mutual unwanted relationships in modern city planning. Hence, we oppose the so-called compact city approach to an urban greening scenario with regard to the potential for both heat island mitigation and air quality.</p>

scholarly journals Addressing the Water–Energy–Food Nexus through Enhanced Green Roof Performance

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 1972
Author(s):  
Jeremy Wright ◽  
Jeremy Lytle ◽  
Devon Santillo ◽  
Luzalen Marcos ◽  
Kristiina Valter Mai
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Performance Optimization ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Stormwater Management ◽  
Green Roof ◽  
Green Roofs ◽  
Management Tool ◽  
Contributing Factors ◽  
Rainwater Runoff ◽  
Rain Events

Urban densification and climate change are creating a multitude of issues for cities around the globe. Contributing factors include increased impervious surfaces that result in poor stormwater management, rising urban temperatures, poor air quality, and a lack of available green space. In the context of volatile weather, there are growing concerns regarding the effects of increased intense rainfalls and how they affect highly populated areas. Green roofs are becoming a stormwater management tool, occupying a growing area of urban roof space in many developed cities. In addition to the water-centric approach to the implementation of green roofs, these systems offer a multitude of benefits across the urban water–energy–food nexus. This paper provides insight to green roof systems available that can be utilized as tools to mitigate the effects of climate change in urbanized areas. A new array of green roof testing modules is presented along with research methods employed to address current issues related to food, energy and water performance optimization. Rainwater runoff after three rain events was observed to be reduced commensurate with the presence of a blue roof retention membrane in the testbed, the growing media depth and type, as well as the productive nature of the plants in the testbed. Preliminary observations indicate that more productive green roof systems may have increasingly positive benefits across the water–energy–food nexus in dense urban areas that are vulnerable to climate disruption.

scholarly journals Mobile Phone Data for Urban Climate Change Adaptation: Reviewing Applications, Opportunities and Key Challenges

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 1501
Author(s):  
Sébastien Dujardin ◽  
Damien Jacques ◽  
Jessica Steele ◽  
Catherine Linard
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Urban Planning ◽  
Mobile Phone ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Urban Governance ◽  
Urban Climate ◽  
Spatial Modelling ◽  
Mobile Phone Data ◽  
Transformative Change ◽  
Digital Information

Climate change places cities at increasing risk and poses a serious challenge for adaptation. As a response, novel sources of data combined with data-driven logics and advanced spatial modelling techniques have the potential for transformative change in the role of information in urban planning. However, little practical guidance exists on the potential opportunities offered by mobile phone data for enhancing adaptive capacities in urban areas. Building upon a review of spatial studies mobilizing mobile phone data, this paper explores the opportunities offered by such digital information for providing spatially-explicit assessments of urban vulnerability, and shows the ways these can help developing more dynamic strategies and tools for urban planning and disaster risk management. Finally, building upon the limitations of mobile phone data analysis, it discusses the key urban governance challenges that need to be addressed for supporting the emergence of transformative change in current planning frameworks.

scholarly journals Mapping the Life Cycle Co-Creation Process of Nature-Based Solutions for Urban Climate Change Adaptation

Resources ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 39
Author(s):  
Marta Irene DeLosRíos-White ◽  
Peter Roebeling ◽  
Sandra Valente ◽  
Ines Vaittinen
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Design Thinking ◽  
Urban Climate ◽  
Urban Ecosystem ◽  
Participatory Approaches ◽  
Creation Process ◽  
Living Lab ◽  
The Face

Developing urban and peri-urban ecosystem services with nature-based solutions (NBS) and participatory approaches can help achieve more resilient and sustainable environments for cities and urban areas in the face of climate change. The co-creation process is increasingly recognised as the way forward to deal with environmental issues in cities, allowing the development of associated methods and tools that have been described and published for specific stages. It is argued that the co-creation process comprises various interlinked stages, corresponding stakeholders, and subsequent methods and tools that need to be mapped and integrated across all stages. In this study, a Life Cycle Co-Creation Process (LCCCP) for NBS is developed, building on continuous improvement cycles and Design Thinking methodologies, and for which the stages and substages, involved stakeholders and engagement methods and tools are mapped and defined. For stakeholders, the actors of an Urban Living Lab (ULL) are adapted to the LCCCP; for the engagement methods and tools, the goals of stakeholder engagement are used as a guide to select examples of co-creation methods and tools. The developed LCCCP comprises five stages, i.e., CoExplore, CoDesign, CoExperiment, CoImplement and CoManagement, creating a unique path that can be followed by practitioners for NBS co-creation.

scholarly journals Urban vulnerability and resilience within the context of climate change

2012 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 1811-1821 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Tromeur ◽  
R. Ménard ◽  
J.-B. Bailly ◽  
C. Soulié
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Spatial Organization ◽  
Urban Climate ◽  
Carbon Dioxide Emission ◽  
Urban Resilience ◽  
Climate Risks ◽  
Heating And Cooling ◽  
Urban Vulnerability ◽  
Energy Needs

Abstract. Natural hazards, due to climate change, are particularly damaging in urban areas because of interdependencies of their networks. So, urban resilience has to face up to climate risks. The most impacting phenomenon is the urban heat island (UHI) effect. The storage capacity of heat is depending on shapes of buildings, public spaces, spatial organization, transport or even industrial activities. So, adaptive strategies for improving urban climate could be possible in different ways. In the framework of the French project Resilis, this study characterises urban vulnerability and resilience in terms of energy needs of buildings and outside urban comfort according to the IPCC carbon dioxide emission scenarios B2 and A2 for the period 2050–2100 for 10 French cities. The evolutions of four climate indicators in terms of heating and cooling needs and number of hours when the temperature is above 28 °C are then obtained for each city to analyse climate risks and their impacts in urban environment.

PALM-4U – A building-resolving microscale model to support future adaptation of cities in a changing urban climate

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sebastian Hettrich ◽  
Björn Maronga ◽  
Siegfried Raasch
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
City Planning ◽  
Urban Climate ◽  
Scientific Models ◽  
Extreme Weather Events ◽  
Second Phase ◽  
Microscale Model

<p align="justify">In a world with increasing extreme weather events, such as dry or extreme rain periods, due to climate change and an ever growing population specifically in urban areas, a forsighted planning and adaption of cities and their urban surroundings is becoming more and more important. Here, particularly health and comfort of the urban population, such as thermal comfort, air quality, ventilation or UV exposure, but also other aspects like safety and environmental sustainability play an important role. In order to create the cities of tomorrow that meet the real requirements to host healthy and firendly living conditions, city planners are relying on scientific models where they can simulate how changes in the urban environment can effect its climate. The PALM-4U (Parallelised Large-Eddy Simulation Model for Urban Applications) model was specifically developed to be able to simulate a large variety of parameters on short timescales and at the high resolution that is required to resolve single buildings or obstacles like trees within the city.</p><p align="justify">In September 2019, the second phase of the German research project MOSAIK (model-based city planning and application in climate change), a module within the large over-arching project [UC]² (Urban Climate Under Change) that focusses on the further development of the model, has started.</p><p align="justify">In this overview, we will present the PALM-4U‘s current capabilities and outline the planned future development in the coming years like windbreak modelling, coupling with traffic flow models, including biogenic volatile organic compounds in urban air quality modelling. Furthermore, our PALM-4U community model strategy will be explained.</p>

scholarly journals Is Smart Growth a smart adaptation strategy?: Examining Ontario's proposed growth under climate change

2004 ◽  
Vol 71 (424-426) ◽  
pp. 57-62
Author(s):  
Brad Bass
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Energy Consumption ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Green Roof ◽  
Smart Growth ◽  
Green Roofs ◽  
Adaptation Strategy ◽  
University Of Toronto ◽  
Conducting Research ◽  
The Impact

The author is a member of Environment Canada's Adaptation and Impact Research Group, located in the Centre for Environment at the University of Toronto. His primary research interests include the use of ecological technologies in adapting urban areas to atmospheric change, the impacts of climate change on the energy sector, and the characteristics of adaptable systems. His current work on ecological technologies includes green roofs, vertical gardens and living machines. Dr Bass has been involved in two major projects, in Ottawa and Toronto, to evaluate the impact of green roofs on the urban heat island, energy consumption, stormwater runoff and water quality. Currently, Dr Bass is conducting research on integrating green roof infrastructure with other vegetation strategies at a community scale, simulating the impact of a green roof on the energy consumption of individual buildings.

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.

Embedding resilience of urban areas to climate change: a case study of Rotterdam

2018 ◽  
Vol 56 (4) ◽  
pp. 59-68
Author(s):  
Anna Bilska
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Interpersonal Relations ◽  
Urban Climate ◽  
Holistic Approach ◽  
Broad Perspective ◽  
Climate Resilience ◽  
Network Building ◽  
The City

Abstract Climate change may have severe consequences for urban areas and many cities, such as those situated on deltas, are already threatened. The paper claims that the solution for endangered areas is the embedding of urban climate resilience. The concept of resilience is put forward to bring a broad perspective to a city with an indication that the city is a complex system with developed relations, both inward and outward. Social and institutional aspects of these relations are highlighted as they have the highest potential to make the city resilient. The paper indicates three fundamental features of embedding the resilience of urban areas to climate change: network building, a strategic approach and implementing urban projects. A practical application of these fundamental features is evaluated using the case study of Rotterdam. The research shows the reliability of these bases and indicates key characteristics of each fundamental feature: the network should be multidimensional with solid institutional and interpersonal relations, the strategy should have a holistic approach and project implementation needs the engagement of all the city actors.

Mapping of rainwater harvesting potential derived from building data-based hydrological models through the case study of Szeged, Hungary

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ákos Kristóf Csete ◽  
Ágnes Gulyás
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Drinking Water ◽  
Spatial Data ◽  
Rainwater Harvesting ◽  
Water Cycle ◽  
Climate Extremes ◽  
Green Roofs ◽  
Local Planning ◽  
Harvesting Systems ◽  
Decision Making Processes

<p>Urban water cycle suffers from ever increasing problems for what a modern city needs to prepare. The water cycle of most cities is not implemented in a sustainable way, which needs to be redesigned as a result of climate change. Through the climate change more extreme weather situations are expected to affect the life of cities. From aspect of the water cycle, this means extremely unequally distributed rainwater supply throughout the year. During drought periods, urban vegetation requires irrigation, often covered by cities with drinking water, a practice widely considered to be unsustainable. Therefore, finding appropriate methods and resources is crucial, in order to reduce the exposure of cities to the increasing climate extremes.</p><p>By collecting large amounts of rainwater and using it as irrigation water during droughts, it is possible to avoid the unnecessary waste of drinking water and to help preserve its limited supply in the future. A significant amount of precipitation flows through the surface of urban micro-catchments (e.g. roofs or other building surfaces), a significant part of which leaves the city through the sewer system without any usage.</p><p>The aim of our research is to create a rainwater harvesting potential map based on a building database in the study area of Szeged, Hungary. We used this building database to estimate the amount of rainwater that flows or evaporates on the top of buildings during a year, as well as the amount that can be considered as potentially collectable water. In addition to the GIS data, a complex meteorological database was also used.</p><p>The study was carried out in the EPA SWMM model. The building database contains nearly 20,000 building polygons, of which nearly every single polygon represents a separate catchment for this research. Based on the database, it is also possible to separate slope/pitched roof and flat roofs, which also allowed us to determine which roofs have the potential to be used as a green roofs to further facilitate efficient rainwater harvesting. Our result can be used to produce both city- and district-level (downtown, housing estate, garden house zones) summaries about the rainwater harvesting possibilities within Szeged. These results can be used to delineate areas where harvesting systems can be realistically installed. In addition to the spatial data, we can also acquire information on the seasonal distribution of the precipitation and thus the amount of collected water which can be used in drought periods.</p><p>Through our results we can get estimate the volume of rainwater that can be potentially collected from the surfaces of the building in Szeged. We believe, that our research may encourage urban planners to make into greater account the potential of rainwater storage in the local planning processes. This can greatly contribute to the decision-making processes at the local levels, and to the expansion of the knowledge related to green space-based integrated urban infrastructure management.</p>

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document