scholarly journals Urban Integration of Green Roofs: Current Challenges and Perspectives

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (22) ◽  
pp. 12378
Author(s):  
Mitali Yeshwant Joshi ◽  
Jacques Teller
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Social Impact ◽  
Social Acceptance ◽  
Tall Buildings ◽  
Weather Conditions ◽  
Green Roofs ◽  
Significant Research ◽  
Context Specific ◽  
The Impact

Green roofs (GRs) are a sustainable alternative to conventional roofs that provide multiple ecosystem services. Integrating GRs into urban areas is highly relevant considering the rapidly increasing built-up in cities. Therefore, this paper systematically and comprehensively reviews the recent literature from 2011 to 2019 on GRs to identify the challenges and perspectives related to the urban integration of GRs. The review suggests that the effectiveness of GRs in delivering ecosystem services is largely dependent on context-specific parameters such as weather conditions and existing construction or design-related parameters. Integrating GRs into urban areas can be challenging given the diversity of actors, functions, and conditions characterizing these areas. Although significant research has already been conducted on GRs, research covering more geographical locations and contexts is needed. The review points out the need to include future urbanization scenarios, such as tall buildings while analyzing the impact of GRs on ecological networks. Additionally, the review emphasizes the inclusion of urban morphological parameters alongside an analysis of the impact of GRs on microclimate regulation and air quality. In terms of social acceptance, this review points out the need to consider the temporal cycles of vegetation for noting users' perspectives. Additionally, further research is required on the social impact of GRs, considering their influence on property prices. Lastly, the review stresses the need for more city-scale studies on the impact of GRs on ecosystem services.

scholarly journals Impacts of Microclimate Conditions on the Energy Performance of Buildings in Urban Areas

Buildings ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (8) ◽  
pp. 189 ◽  
Author(s):  
Javanroodi ◽  
M.Nik
Keyword(s):  
Urban Areas ◽  
Energy Demand ◽  
Weather Conditions ◽  
Energy Performance ◽  
Urban Morphology ◽  
Weather Data ◽  
Architectural Form ◽  
Energy Performance Of Buildings ◽  
Microclimate Conditions ◽  
The Impact

Urbanization trends have changed the morphology of cities in the past decades. Complex urban areas with wide variations in built density, layout typology, and architectural form have resulted in more complicated microclimate conditions. Microclimate conditions affect the energy performance of buildings and bioclimatic design strategies as well as a high number of engineering applications. However, commercial energy simulation engines that utilize widely-available mesoscale weather data tend to underestimate these impacts. These weather files, which represent typical weather conditions at a location, are mostly based on long-term metrological observations and fail to consider extreme conditions in their calculation. This paper aims to evaluate the impacts of hourly microclimate data in typical and extreme climate conditions on the energy performance of an office building in two different urban areas. Results showed that the urban morphology can reduce the wind speed by 27% and amplify air temperature by more than 14%. Using microclimate data, the calculated outside surface temperature, operating temperature and total energy demand of buildings were notably different to those obtained using typical regional climate model (RCM)–climate data or available weather files (Typical Meteorological Year or TMY), i.e., by 61%, 7%, and 21%, respectively. The difference in the hourly peak demand during extreme weather conditions was around 13%. The impact of urban density and the final height of buildings on the results are discussed at the end of the paper.

scholarly journals Covid-19 and inequality: developing an age-friendly strategy for recovery in low income communities

2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 271-279
Author(s):  
Tine Buffel ◽  
Patty Doran ◽  
Mhorag Goff ◽  
Luciana Lang ◽  
Camilla Lewis ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Low Income ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Social Impact ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Social Infrastructure ◽  
Community Based Interventions ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Urban Neighbourhoods ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Impact

Purpose This paper aims to explore the social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, focusing on issues facing older people living in urban areas characterised by multiple deprivation. Design/methodology/approach The paper first reviews the role of place and neighbourhood in later life; second, it examines the relationship between neighbourhood deprivation and the impact of COVID-19; and, third, it outlines the basis for an “age-friendly” recovery strategy. Findings The paper argues that COVID-19 is having a disproportionate impact on low-income communities, which have already been affected by cuts to public services, the loss of social infrastructure and pressures on the voluntary sector. It highlights the need for community-based interventions to be developed as an essential part of future policies designed to tackle the effects of COVID-19. Originality/value The paper contributes to debates about developing COVID-19 recovery strategies in the context of growing inequalities affecting urban neighbourhoods.

scholarly journals Impacts of Mesonet Observations on Meteorological Surface Analyses

2013 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 254-269 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel P. Tyndall ◽  
John D. Horel
Keyword(s):  
Los Angeles ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Weather Conditions ◽  
Background Field ◽  
High Impact ◽  
Reporting Practices ◽  
Impact Surface ◽  
Weather Events ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Surface Observations

Abstract Given the heterogeneous equipment, maintenance and reporting practices, and siting of surface observing stations, subjective decisions that depend on the application tend to be made to use some observations and to avoid others. This research determines objectively high-impact surface observations of 2-m temperature, 2-m dewpoint, and 10-m wind observations using the adjoint of a two-dimensional variational surface analysis over the contiguous United States. The analyses reflect a weighted blend of 1-h numerical forecasts used as background grids and available observations. High-impact observations are defined as arising from poor observation quality, observation representativeness errors, or accurate observed weather conditions not evident in the background field. The impact of nearly 20 000 surface observations is computed over a sample of 100 analysis hours during 25 major weather events. Observation impacts are determined for each station as well as within broad network categories. For individual analysis hours, high-impact observations are located in regions of significant weather—typically, where the background field fails to define the local weather conditions. Low-impact observations tend to be ones where there are many observations reporting similar departures from the background. When averaged over the entire 100 cases, observations with the highest impact are found within all network categories and depend strongly on their location relative to other observing sites and the amount of variability in the weather; for example, temperature observations have reduced impact in urban areas such as Los Angeles, California, where observations are plentiful and temperature departures from the background grids are small.

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 Proyecto Haz[Otea]

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ricardo Alvira Baeza
Keyword(s):  
Urban Area ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Surface Characteristics ◽  
Green Roofs ◽  
General Transformation ◽  
Key Issues ◽  
Collective Benefit ◽  
S Model ◽  
Available Information ◽  
The Impact

Desde hace ya tiempo es frecuente oír hablar del gran potencial de la ‘puesta en carga’ de las azoteas urbanas no utilizadas para incrementar la sostenibilidad de las ciudades, generalmente alu-diendo a su habilitación como azoteas verdes o para ubicar elementos generadores de energía re-novable. Sin embargo, por varios motivos resulta difícil valorar en qué grado son correctas dichas afirmaciones: La información disponible de diferentes soluciones de azoteas describe cuestiones técnicas e impactos focalizados en aspectos muy concretos de la realidad (aislamiento térmico, re-tención de agua de lluvia…) difícilmente relacionables con el efecto global sobre las áreas urbanas de habilitar las azoteas. El efecto de un diseño/solución técnica es diferente en áreas urbanas diferentes. Las azoteas pueden ser destinadas a numerosos usos y antes de afirmar el mayor o menor interés de cada uno de ellos es necesario compararlos entre sí. Para ayudar en este debate, en este texto tratamos de aportar una estimación más completa del potencial de transformar la ciudad mediante la actuación sobre las azoteas de los edificios, incorporando dos cuestiones frecuentemente ausentes: revisaremos tanto las soluciones frecuentemente denominadas ‘sostenibles’ como un rango amplio de otras transformaciones posibles que seleccionamos a partir de una revisión extensa de ejemplos actuales y pasados de aprovechamiento de azoteas en todo el mundo. Paralelamente, realizaremos una estimación del impacto previsible de habilitar todas las azoteas de un área urbana existente, lo que nos permitirá valorar impactos globales que solo es posible apre-ciar al incrementar la escala de análisis.Para ello, estimaremos el impacto previsible de la posible transformación de un área urbana exis-tente (el barrio Palos de Moguer en Madrid) utilizando el modelo Meta[S] propuesto por el autor (Alvira, 2015). La evaluación nos permite poner de manifiesto tres cuestiones fundamentales: no todas las transformaciones posibles de las azoteas producen el mismo beneficio sobre las ciudades, maximizar el beneficio de poner en carga las azoteas requiere el análisis particularizado de cada área urbana, y la cantidad de usos que es posible implantar y la facilidad de dicha implantación se incrementan si se introducen cambios en la normativa. Estas dos últimas cuestiones nos permiten afirmar el interés no solo de actualizar las normas estata-les de edificación, sino también de que los ayuntamientos regulen las condiciones y utilización de los espacios de azotea, y en las conclusiones enumeramos algunas cuestiones que consideramos deberían contemplar o incorporar las diferentes normativas en relación a las azoteas. For some time now, it has become increasingly common hearing about the great potential trans-forming urban rooftop spaces poses for increasing cities’ sustainability, in a speech usually encour-aging their adaptation into green roofs or use for locating renewable energy generators. However, it is currently extremely difficult assessing to what extent these statements are correct:• Available information and assessments of these rooftops’ types describe technical issues and/or focus on specific aspects of their impact on reality [thermal insulation, rain water re-tention ...] being hardly relatable to the impact a general transformation of an urban area’s rooftops would imply for the area’s overall state. • The impact of some technological solution/design may be different in different urban are-as.• Rooftops may host several uses, yet we have found no document providing an extensive comparison of the impact of each of them.To assist in this debate, in this text we estimate the expected impact of the hypothetical transfor-mation of all available rooftops in an existing urban area: Palos de Moguer neighborhood in Madrid. In order to do so, we use Meta[S] model proposed by the author as PhD Thesis project, which as-sesses 64 dimensions of urban reality. The assessment allows us to highlight three key issues:• Not all possible rooftops transformations produce the same benefit for cities/urban areas, and in urban consolidated environments rooftop transformations that allow people’s use may pose higher collective benefit.• Rooftops transformations benefit maximization requires individual analysis of each urban area, relating its particular needs with available rooftop surface characteristics.• The number of different rooftops possible uses and their ease of implementation can be greatly increased if some previsions are incorporated in Urban Planning/Building CodesThese last two issues allow us to state the interest of both updating national Building & Design Codes and that municipalities regulate the conditions and use of rooftop spaces. In the Conclusions we list some issues we believe should be incorporated by different rooftops’ regulations.

scholarly journals Assessment of the Impact of Residential Urban Patterns of Different Hillslopes on Urban Drainage Systems and Ecosystem Services in the Federal District, Brazil

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (14) ◽  
pp. 5859
Author(s):  
Leticia Karine Sanches Brito ◽  
Maria Elisa Leite Costa ◽  
Sergio Koide
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Groundwater Recharge ◽  
Ecosystem Service ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Stormwater Management ◽  
Low Impact Development ◽  
Runoff Generation ◽  
Infiltration Capacity ◽  
Urban Patterns ◽  
The Impact

In Brazil, stormwater management systems are usually deficient and very commonly implemented after the urban areas have settled. In Brasilia, the Federal capital of Brazil, this problem is aggravated due to the fact that the rainy and dry seasons are very well defined, thereby increasing the importance of groundwater recharge as an ecosystem service. This research aims to evaluate the impact of urban structure types and topographies in stormwater management and three ecosystem services: groundwater recharge, flooding, and water quality. The urban patterns studied included mixed residential areas with two block positions (orthogonal and parallel to the topography) and a single-family house with low density. The studied landforms include a divergent-convergent surface and a flat hillslope with high slope taxa—strictly convergent and strictly divergent surfaces, respectively. The arrangement of landforms has an impact on runoff generation, with an average of 9% during peak flow, and an infiltration capacity, on average, 3% higher in the divergent-convergent surface. The greatest impact of the topography on stormwater management is considered based on the direct cost of the drainage system, which is 44% higher in the flat hillslope. Low impact development (LIDs) devices helped to improve ecosystem service provisions and even presented efficiency that almost achieved that of the predevelopment conditions in the evaluated scenarios. Seeking the urban patterns that best suit given environmental conditions is one of the approaches studied in this paper.

scholarly journals A Preliminary Study on the Impact of Landscape Pattern Changes Due to Urbanization: Case Study of Jakarta, Indonesia

Land ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 218
Author(s):  
Dikman Maheng ◽  
Assela Pathirana ◽  
Chris Zevenbergen
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Carbon Sequestration ◽  
Landscape Pattern ◽  
Temperature Regulation ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Landscape Patterns ◽  
Water Retention Capacity ◽  
Lulc Change ◽  
Preliminary Study ◽  
The Impact

Urbanization is changing land use–land cover (LULC) transforming green spaces (GS) and bodies of water into built-up areas. LULC change is affecting ecosystem services (ES) in urban areas, such as by decreasing of the water retention capacity, the urban temperature regulation capacity and the carbon sequestration. The relation between LULC change and ES is still poorly examined and quantified using actual field data. In most ES studies, GS is perceived as lumped areas instead of distributed areas, implicitly ignoring landscape patterns (LP), such as connectivity and aggregation. This preliminary study is one of the first to provide quantitative evidence of the influence of landscape pattern changes on a selection of urban ecosystem services in a megacity as Jakarta, Indonesia. The impact of urbanization on the spatiotemporal changes of ES has been identified by considering connectivity and aggregation of GS. It reveals that LP changes have significantly decreased carbon sequestration, temperature regulation, and runoff regulation by 10.4, 12.4, and 11.5%, respectively. This indicates that the impact of GS on ES is not only determined by its area, but also by its LP. Further detailed studies will be needed to validate these results.

scholarly journals Integrating Green Infrastructure into Urban Planning: Developing Melbourne’s Green Factor Tool

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 20-31 ◽  
Author(s):  
Judy Bush ◽  
Gavin Ashley ◽  
Ben Foster ◽  
Gail Hall
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Urban Planning ◽  
Green Infrastructure ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Policy Development ◽  
Green Space ◽  
Action Plan ◽  
Green Roofs ◽  
Urban Greenery ◽  
Private Realm

As cities increase in size and density, the ecosystem services supplied by urban greenery and green infrastructure are increasingly vital for sustainable, liveable urban areas. However, retaining and maximising urban greenery in densifying cities is challenging. Governments have critical roles in addressing these challenges through policy development and implementation. While there has been significant attention on the quality and quantity of green space on public land, there is an increasing focus on policy mechanisms for integrating green infrastructure into the private realm, including green roofs, walls, facades, balconies and gardens. As part of City of Melbourne’s efforts to increase greening across the municipality, its 2017 Green Our City Strategic Action Plan includes specific focus on the private realm, and development of regulatory processes for green infrastructure. This article reports on a participatory research project to develop a Green Factor Tool for application to building development proposals in Melbourne. We focus on the transdisciplinary collaborations that brought together contributions from researchers, practitioners, policymakers and designers. We discuss how local research on green space contributions to provision of ecosystem services shaped the design of the tool and provided the tool’s rigorous evidence-base. Finally, we consider the roles of urban planning in retaining and maximising urban green spaces in densifying urban areas.

scholarly journals DEGRADATION OF ECOSYSTEM SERVICES OF PROTECTED AREAS IN URBANIZED ZONES

2019 ◽  
pp. 10-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
O. Havrylenko ◽  
E. Tsyhanok
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Protected Areas ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Local Population ◽  
Soil Formation ◽  
Ecosystem Approach ◽  
Water Infiltration ◽  
Ultraviolet Rays ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Recreation Zone

The article analyzes the state of development and implementation of the ecosystem services concept in the world and in Ukraine as an integral part of the global economic value of the planet. The impact of the quality of ecosystem services of protected areas on the urban infrastructure functioning is not researched well; the consideration of the importance of protected areas ecosystem services of urban areas for large cities vital activities is limited; also, there is a need to manage such territories on the basis of the ecosystem approach. This study substantiates the necessity of identification and evaluation of protected areas of ecosystem services in urban zones. The research of main causes and factors of ecosystem services degradation in the urbanized environment has been done on the example of the regional landscape park «Lysa Gora» in Kyiv-city. It has revealed the value of supporting, provisioning, regulating and cultural services of ecosystems within the limits of each park’s landscape-functional zone for the city’s livelihoods. The most important services provided by the ecosystems of the landscape park reserve zone are the habitats preservation of the most valuable populations of the Red List plants, animals and mushrooms species and their biodiversity, soil formation, deflation of rocks, water infiltration and moisture accumulation, herb maintenance of surface and underground drainage, replenishment soil moisture, the flow of nutrients and water, the primary products production and oxygen production in the process of photosynthesis, the regulation air quality and balance in it dioxide and oxygen, ultraviolet rays protection, microclimate regulation, implement erosion and biological control. Among the ecosystem services of the regulated recreation zone, the most important are recreational, environmentally education, cultural, behavioural and scientific-cognitive, whose value is significantly increased in an urbanized environment. The real threat of the Kyiv’s loss of the valuable biodiversity focus and recreation areas is the result of conflicts between different subjects of nature using. There has been created a mapping, which shows the main factors of the study area ecosystem services degradation. In particular, within the reserve zone, such factors are frequent arrival of motor transport, laying quad bikes excursion routes by the most valuable parts of the park, misuse of the reserve zone, dumping of garbage in natural reservoirs, tree felling. The most common causes of ecosystem services degradation within the regulated recreation zone are the massive unorganized recreation of the local population, widespread firefighting, municipal waste incineration, sanitary logging, dumping of building debris, etc. In order to preserve and restore the landscape park ecosystem services quality, which is used by a significant part of the local population, the conflicts identified must be eliminated immediately.

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