Abstract
In November 2014 a green façade was built in the Sestri Ponente district in Genoa, Italy, on an office building owned by the Istituto Nazionale di Previdenza Sociale (National Institute of Social Insurance). This area, which is characterized by a relatively high population density, faces important environmental issues related to, for example, air pollution, stormwater management, and the urban heat island effect. The Department of Sciences for Architecture at the University of Genoa (Italy) is conducting monitoring activity to evaluate the effectiveness of the green façade with regard to summer cooling, winter heating – in collaboration with Research on the Energy System – air quality improvement, and economic and environmental sustainability. Starting from this first pilot project a question arises: what would be the effect of vegetation at the district scale? This article discusses the potentialities for urban sustainable development of the integration of green infrastructure. Simulations carried out with ENVI-Met software demonstrate the potentialities of different amounts of vegetation for urban heat island mitigation. In addition, the possible stormwater runoff reduction was calculated. Such calculations are based on urban design projects developed for the area to evaluate the possible improvement to environmental quality owing to the integration of green infrastructure.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
- 1.
The predicted mean vote (PMV) is a comfort index defined by Fanger in 1970 and mentioned in ISO 7730:2006 (“Ergonomics of the thermal environment—Analytical determination and interpretation of thermal comfort using calculation of the PMV and PPD indices and local thermal comfort criteria”). PMV takes into account several parameters (e.g., air temperature, mean radiant temperature, wind speed); positive values indicate hot-warm, while negative values cold. According to ISO 7730:2006, PMV values between +0.5 and −0.5 correspond to comfortable thermal conditions.
References
Köhler M (2008) Green facades—a view back and some visions. Urban Ecosyst 11:423–436. doi:10.1007/s11252-008-0063-x
Dunnett N, Kingsbury N (2008) Planting green roofs and living walls. Timber Press, Portland
Ottelé M, van Bohemen HD, Fraaij ALA (2010) Quantifying the deposition of particulate matter on climber vegetation on living walls. Ecol Eng 36:154–162. doi:10.1016/j.ecoleng.2009.02.007
Sternberg T, Viles H, Cathersides A, Edwards M (2010) Dust particulate absorption by ivy (Hedera helix L) on historic walls in urban environments. Sci Total Environ 409:162–168. doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2010.09.022
Powe NA, Willis KG (2004) Mortality and morbidity benefits of air pollution (SO2 and PM10) absorption attributable to woodland in Britain. J Environ Manage 70:119–128. doi:10.1016/j.jenvman.2003.11.003
Baik J-J, Kwak K-H, Park S-B, Ryu Y-H (2012) Effects of building roof greening on air quality in street canyons. Atmos Environ 61:48–55. doi:10.1016/j.atmosenv.2012.06.076
Perini K, Magliocco A (2014) Effects of vegetation, urban density, building height, and atmospheric conditions on local temperatures and thermal comfort. Urban Urban Green 13:484–494. doi:10.1016/j.ufug.2014.03.003
Perini K (2013) Progettare il verde in città: una strategia per l’architettura sostenibile. F. Angeli, Milano
Krüger EL, Minella FO, Rasia F (2011) Impact of urban geometry on outdoor thermal comfort and air quality from field measurements in Curitiba. Brazil Build Environ 46:621–634. doi:10.1016/j.buildenv.2010.09.006
Fahmy M, Sharples S, Yahiya M (2010) LAI based trees selection for mid latitude urban developments: a microclimatic study in Cairo. Egypt Build Environ 45:345–357. doi:10.1016/j.buildenv.2009.06.014
Ali-Toudert F, Mayer H (2007) Effects of asymmetry, galleries, overhanging façades and vegetation on thermal comfort in urban street canyons. Sol Energy 81:742–754. doi:10.1016/j.solener.2006.10.007
Yang X, Zhao L, Bruse M, Meng Q (2013) Evaluation of a microclimate model for predicting the thermal behavior of different ground surfaces. Build Environ 60:93–104. doi:10.1016/j.buildenv.2012.11.008
Oberndorfer E, Lundholm J, Bass B, Coffman RR, Doshi H, Dunnett N, Gaffin S, Köhler M, Liu KK, Rowe B (2007) Green roofs as urban ecosystems: ecological structures, functions, and services. BioScience 57:823–833
Autixier L, Mailhot A, Bolduc S, Madoux-Humery A-S, Galarneau M, Prévost M, Dorner S (2014) Evaluating rain gardens as a method to reduce the impact of sewer overflows in sources of drinking water. Sci Total Environ 499:238–247. doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2014.08.030
Fioretti R, Palla A, Lanza LG, Principi P (2010) Green roof energy and water related performance in the Mediterranean climate. Build Environ 45:1890–1904. doi:10.1016/j.buildenv.2010.03.001
Acknowledgments
Master’s students (now graduated architects) Anna Ragosa and Carolina Queirolo are acknowledged. Enrica Cattaneo and Umberto Valle are acknowledged for their fundamental support.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2017 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this paper
Cite this paper
Perini, K., Magliocco, A. (2017). Urban Sustainable Development in the Mediterranean Area: The Case of Sestri Ponente, Genoa. In: Sayigh, A. (eds) Mediterranean Green Buildings & Renewable Energy. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-30746-6_45
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-30746-6_45
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-30745-9
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-30746-6
eBook Packages: EnergyEnergy (R0)