Special Issue "Building-Integrated Vegetation Systems for Sustainable Cities"

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Engineering and Science".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 September 2021.

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Luis Pérez-Urrestarazu
E-Mail Website1 Website2
Guest Editor
Urban Greening and Biosystems Engineering Research Group, ETSIA, Universidad de Sevilla, Sevilla, Spain
Interests: urban greening; living walls; vertical greening systems; irrigation engineering; aquaponics
Prof. Dr. Panayiotis A. Nektarios
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Hellenic Mediterranean University, Department of Agriculture, Laboratory of Floriculture and Landscape Architecture, Greece
Interests: green roofs; turfgrass science and management; landscape architecture and restoration; stabilization of slopes; native and endemic plants; aromatic and pharmaceutical plants; ornamental plants; lysimeters and pesticide and nutrient leaching; state-of-the-art methodologies for site evaluation and analyses; urban food production; plant growth substrate evaluation and formulation; plant drought and water deprivation tolerance
Dr. Katia Perini
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Architecture and Design Department, University of Genoa, Genoa, Italy
Interests: green infrastructure; green envelopes; vegetation; environmental and economic sustainability in (of) urban areas and building/urban design

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The current urban development is currently leading to densely built cities where the space still available is scarce and the land is expensive. This model of urbanization provokes problems such as the increase of the urban heat island effect, pollution, or lack of green areas. In order to overcome this and to be able to increment the quantity of green spaces in urban areas, building surfaces (mainly walls and roofs) can be used to locate vegetation. Therefore, the use of innovative building-integrated vegetation systems is becoming more frequent, mainly in the form of green roofs and living walls.

These types of nature-based solutions are usually employed with different aims such as ecosystem service provision (e.g., biodiversity increase, air quality improvement, stormwater management, temperature regulation), improvement of the building performance (e.g., temperature and noise isolation) or even with social or aesthetical purposes.

This Special Issue is intended to bring studies focused on building-integrated vegetation systems together. We welcome papers related with their design and optimization, advantages and drawbacks, their management and maintenance or their effects on buildings and their occupants. We also accept studies in a broader scale from the urban planning perspective.

Prof. Luis Pérez-Urrestarazu
Prof. Panayiotis A. Nektarios
Dr. Katia Perini
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All papers will be peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Green infrastructure
  • Green building technologies
  • Nature-based solutions
  • Sustainable construction
  • Vertical greening systems
  • Living walls/green walls
  • Green facades
  • Green roofs
  • Eco-roofs
  • Brown roofs
  • Green roof gardens and parks
  • Energy performance and thermal comfort in buildings using green infrastructure
  • Ecosystem services
  • Urban fauna and flora biodiversity
  • Air quality improvement
  • Stormwater management
  • Urban food production on buildings
  • Horticulture production in green roofs and walls
  • Aquaponics
  • Water management in urban buildings
  • Waste water for irrigation of building green infrastructure
  • Water recycling for irrigation of building green infrastructure
  • Irrigation requirements and practices for building green infrastructure
  • Aesthetics and public perceptions for building green infrastructure

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

Article
Evaluation and Planning Decision on Façade Greening Made Easy—Integration in BIM and Implementation of an Automated Design Process
Sustainability 2021, 13(16), 9387; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13169387 - 21 Aug 2021
Viewed by 285
Abstract
Façade greening at the intersection between buildings and urban space offers an optimal opportunity to integrate greenery into increasingly dense cities and influence the microclimate and contribute to high quality of life in urban areas. Despite proven numerous positive effects, there is still [...] Read more.
Façade greening at the intersection between buildings and urban space offers an optimal opportunity to integrate greenery into increasingly dense cities and influence the microclimate and contribute to high quality of life in urban areas. Despite proven numerous positive effects, there is still a lack of implementation and practical relevance is low until now. To integrate existing greening systems directly into future planning processes and thus keep up with the advancing digitalization in the building sector, an integration of these systems into Building Information Modeling (BIM) is urgently needed and in connection to this, the implementation of an automated planning process to support easier realization of greening projects contributing to a sustainable urban development. Therefore, BIM objects were created for five façade greening systems after analyzing the necessary basic data. Subsequently, an automated process was used to optimize the time-consuming conventional planning process of façade greening, with the aim of evaluating the simulated greening variants based on defined parameters. A case study presents the application of the prototypes and the possible calculations over the life cycle of the building. This development holds great potential by simplifying the process of decision-making and placing façade greenery on buildings. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Building-Integrated Vegetation Systems for Sustainable Cities)
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Article
Removal of Volatile Organic Compounds by Means of a Felt-Based Living Wall Using Different Plant Species
Sustainability 2021, 13(11), 6393; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13116393 - 04 Jun 2021
Viewed by 496
Abstract
Poor indoor quality affects people’s health and well-being. Phytoremediation is one way in which this problem can be tackled, with living walls being a viable option for places with limited space. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficiency of five [...] Read more.
Poor indoor quality affects people’s health and well-being. Phytoremediation is one way in which this problem can be tackled, with living walls being a viable option for places with limited space. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficiency of five plant species in a living wall to remove Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) and to identify whether the type of pollutant has any influence. An enclosed chamber was used to add the contaminants n-hexane and formaldehyde independently. Total VOCs were measured for three days in two scenarios: (1) empty chamber, and (2) chamber with living wall. Five living walls were prepared, each with three plants of the same species: Spathiphyllum wallisii, Philodendron hederaceum, Ficus pumila, Tradescantia pallida, and Chlorophytum comosum. There was no correlation between leaf area/fresh weight/dry weight and the contaminant reduction. In general, all five species were more efficient in reducing TVOCs when exposed to formaldehyde than to n-hexane. Chlorophytum comosum was the most efficient species in reducing the concentration of TVOCs for both contaminants, Spathiphyllum wallisii being the least efficient by far. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Building-Integrated Vegetation Systems for Sustainable Cities)
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