Indoor Living Wall: educational tool for improving eco-health awareness in public school

The increasing urbanization trend may affect negatively people's health due to the lack of natural areas. Younger generations carry out many daily activities in indoor spaces, such as schools, where the quality of indoor environment could be poor. Recent studies assert that the application of vertical greening in indoor spaces improves the quality of indoor air and provides several benefits for occupants' wellbeing. Vertical greening systems are included in the set of Urban Green Infrastructures (UGI) that apply nature-based solutions and promote an ecological approach for the improvement of built environment. They also offer the opportunity to develop educational activities focused on ecological approach in urban areas. Urban environmental education involving green infrastructures helps to rise people's awareness regard the importance of environmental quality for their wellbeing. This paper investigates the opportunity to consider indoor living wall as complementary education tools to promote (non-) formal education and ecological literacy. It investigates how the development of green curricula activities using indoor living wall can promotes the understanding of the cross-dependence between human health and the quality of indoor environment

Soil Erosion Aspects in Agricultural Ecosystem

Agricultural activities have an important role in the primary sector of Italian economy. Within the present work, insert in a book dealing with the aspect related to soil erosion in agriculture, vineyard have been studied with the aim to analyze the effects caused by the intense cultivation practices, evaluating the annual soil loss and the management methodologies causing an increase or decrease of erosion phenomenon. The studies have been focused on the North-West Italy, in Monferrato area

Correction to: Landscape Metrics Integrated in Hydraulic Modeling for River Restoration Planning

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Rainwater harvesting techniques as an adaptation strategy for flood mitigation

The development of adaptation and mitigation strategies to tackle anthropic and climate changes impacts is becoming a priority in drought-prone areas. This study examines the capabilities of indigenous rainwater harvesting techniques (RWHT) to be used as a viable solution for flood mitigation. The study analyses the hydraulic performance of the most used micro-catchment RWHT in sub-Saharan regions, in terms of flow peak reduction (FPR) and volume reduction (VR) at the field and basin scale. Parametrized hyetographs were built to replicate the extreme precipitations that strike Sahelian countries during rainy seasons. 2D hydrodynamic simulations showed that half-moons placed with a staggered configuration (S-HM) have the best performances in reducing runoff. At the field scale, S-HM showed a remarkable FPR of 77% and a VR of 70% in case of extreme rainfall. Instead at the basin scale, in which only 5% of the surface was treated, 13% and 8% respectively for FPR and VR were obtained. In addition, the reduction of the runoff coefficient (Rc) between the different configuration was analyzed. The study critically evaluates hydraulic performances of the different techniques and shows how pitting practices cannot guarantee high performance in case of extreme precipitations. These results will enrich the knowledge of the hydraulic behavior of RWHT; aspect marginally investigated in the scientific literature. Moreover, this study presents the first scientific application of HEC-RAS as a rainfall-runoff model. Despite some limitations, this model has the effective feature of using very high-resolution topography as input for hydraulic simulations. The results presented in this study should encourage stakeholders to upscale the use of RWHT in order to lessen the flood hazard and land degradation that oppresses arid and semi-arid areas

Spatial and temporal evaluation of perennial vegetation distribution in the arid areas surrounding North Horr city

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Improving the Bike lane Network and Enhancing the Heritage of Almese

In recent years increasing problems of pollution's effects on public health have moved the attention of local authorities on innovative strategies to promote low-carbon mobility. Bicycle represents an alternative and complementary vehicle to private car, so it's important focusing the attention on facilities and services design linked on cycling. In this paper it is presented a project proposal of a bike lane network, which is a sustainable option of urban and suburban mobility and also it represents an important tool to enhance landscape and cultural heritage of the Susa Valley

Rice husk and thermal comfort: Design and evaluation of indoor modular green walls

Green walls are vertical greening structures where varied plant species grow. They are conceived as a form of urban landscape and have numerous environmental, social and economic benefits. In fact, these structures have positive effects on air quality, thermal and acoustic insulation, microclimate, psychophysical well-being and urban design. In the framework of thermal comfort, several studies demonstrated the potential of green walls to improve indoor thermal comfort and reduce heat flows through the wall of buildings. This research evaluates the thermal efficiency of two modular green walls that present an alternative substrate as growing medium. This substrate is composed of loam soil and rice husk, an agricultural organic waste derived from the rice milling process. The choice of rice husk is inspired by principles of circular economy in order to reduce the environmental impact and costs of the substrate used in greening applications. The alternative substrate was compared with expanded clay aggregate, used for plant cultivation in living walls, and the analysis was divided into two phases. Firstly, field experiments were carried out on three plant species (Chlorophytum, Dieffenbachia and Spathiphyllum) to evaluate the efficacy of these substrates to grow plants. The efficacy of the substrate was evaluated through the measurement of the concentration of chlorophyll, the determination of the growth index of plants and a qualitative observation of the root development. Secondly, two modular green walls with varied substrates and plants were designed and tested from the point of view of the thermal comfort, using the open source software TerMus-G. After the transmittance value was obtained as output for each green wall module, the heat flow and the relative variation were calculated and compared to the indoor supporting walls. This article presents a valid methodology approach to evaluate the efficiency of green walls substrate and its thermal performance. This methodology differs from those found in scientific literature and represents a valid alternative. The present research demonstrates the ability of designed modules and, more generally, of indoor green walls to increase thermal insulation without causing condensation. Furthermore, the investigation shows a positive contribution both in winter and in summer. Finally, the use of this undervalue by-product rice husk mixed with loam soil shows to be appropriate for green wall application, providing better performance than the expanded clay in terms of thermal comfort and plant growth rate. Moreover, its use as substrates should further improve the ecological footprint of green vertical structures and reduce costs

Sustainable techniques to improve the Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) and thermal comfort, reducing the energy consumption of public building in hot climates

Nowadays an increasing number of people spend a lot of their time in indoor spaces and the global market for Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) is increasing very quickly to improve the indoor air quality and the thermal comfort. The International Energy Agency assesses that almost the 20% of global energy consumption is addressed to mechanical air conditioning. The use of local resources and the rediscovery opportunities given by passive cooing and ventilation systems may suggest interesting ways to provide benefits for humans and to reduce environmental footprint. The paper focuses on the application of wind-catcher system in a modern public school in the city of Yazd (Iran), in a hot and arid climate zone. Opportunities and benefits are discussed to evaluate the efficiency of the redesign of the traditional wind-catcher and its integration in new modern buildings