Thermal and Energy Performance of Skyrise Greenery in High-Density Cities

Dear Colleagues,

In today’s world, the rapid pace of urbanization and the growing concern for climate change have led to the increasing trend of bringing nature back into cities. Greenery has become a key element of urban transformation and the exterior surfaces of buildings have been deemed to hold vast opportunities for the insertion of greenery into the urban landscape. Green roofs or green walls have since become one of the most innovative and rapidly developing features of city planning, architecture and ecological landscapes. Given the large surface areas on buildings that are available for retrofitting with these technologies, there is a great deal of latent potential worth uncovering by utilizing vertical greenery for positive environmental change and an energy-saving effect in an already dense urban space. In addition to acting as a landscape element, vertical greenery has been combined with urban farming systems, solar photovoltaic systems, urban drainage systems, etc., showing multi-functional application trends in recent years. New materials, structures and optimization methods have also been developed for vertical greenery design, which enhance the performance and sustainability. Therefore, to advance the understanding and application of these emerging technologies, especially in terms of their thermal and energy impact, interdisciplinary research is required, such as in agriculture, material science and mechanical engineering. The thermal and energy performance of vertical greenery, or its variant, will in turn support the design and optimization of other functions. Different from conventional built environments in rural open areas, high-density cities are characterised by the heat island effect. Due to the two-way heat transfer between vertical greenery and building and the surrounding space, how this affects the building skin microclimate distribution as well as the local urban microclimate remain to be elucidated. Comprehensive and accurate research in this field will provide guidance for extensive planning of vertical greenery, making cities more resilient to future climate change. 

This Special Issue aims to provide a more focused platform for a selection of papers introducing the thermal and energy performance of diverse, innovative vertical greenery design at different scales, as well as the latest research progress about its effect on improving the ecological and economic benefits. Articles related to (but not limited to) the following topics are encouraged for submission:

1. Thermal and energy performance of a vertical greenery system or its variant in different climate zones, as well as the effect of plant species and soil.
2. The heat transfer mechanism of drainage structure and materials and its impact on the thermal performance of vertical greenery.
3. The interaction mechanism between a vertical greenery system and renewable energy system and its effect on thermal performance and energy production.
4. The effect of vertical greenery design strategy on urban microclimate at the local scale.
5. The microclimate of a vertical farming system as well as its influencing factors and optimization methods.
6. The economic and ecological impact of thermal performance of a vertical greenery system.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Yang He
Dr. Chunliang Tan
Dr. Shisheng Chen
Dr. Zhongqi Yu
Guest Editors

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• vertical greenery
• thermal and energy performance
• urban microclimate
• urban farming
• photovoltaic-green roofs
• blue-green roof
• drainage system
• ecological and economic benefits
• optimization method