To green or not to green! That is the question. Does green infrastructure provide significant thermoregulation in a maritime temperate climate?

The ecosystem service delivery of urban green infrastructure (UGI) is now manifest. Types and level of service provision, however, can alter radically, based on factors such as location, species choice, planting design and vegetation management. The value of vegetation to provide a cooling service is generally understood in hot climates, but the merit in temperate climates remains ambiguous. Indeed, policy makers within cooler countries (e.g. UK) remain to be convinced that expenditure on UGI is justified, at least from the point of view of city cooling alone. Occasional warm days do occur of course, and climate change models predict that heat wave events will become more frequent within the UK, including those that pose a risk to human health. To help UK policy makers make better-informed decisions around UGI, a number of our research programmes have targeted the role vegetation plays in regulating temperature, but specifically within the context of a maritime-temperate climate. Two examples of ‘green interventions’ are discussed here. The first documents the role of green façades to cool a wall system and the second illustrates the cooling influence conferred by roadside trees. Both experiments used a replicated sampling approach to ensure statistical robustness, and hence convince policy makers that data is representative of UK scenarios and results are reproducible. In the first experiment, 10 separate wall sections are used to investigate the cooling influence of two different plant genotypes (Prunus and Phaseolus) on both exterior and interior wall spaces. In the second study, road surface temperatures are documented with respect to both built and green infrastructure, i.e. we compare the influence of buildings and street trees on the surface temperatures across a road profile. Again replicate data are used to provide a ‘generic’ summer temperature profile for the city of Sheffield, rather than just specific locations at one point in time. Results show that green facades can reduce exterior and interior (cavity) wall air temperature by 3oC and 5oC respectively. Likewise, large street trees have a mean cooling influence of 4.5oC on road surfaces near their base compared to comparable sections adjacent to buildings. To maximise cooling, the data suggests that trees need to be provided on both sides of a roadway, i.e. a single tree did not manage to cool the pavement at th

Biophilic architecture: a review of the rationale and outcomes

Contemporary cities have high stress levels, mental health issues, high crime levels and ill health, while the built environment shows increasing problems with urban heat island effects and air and water pollution. Emerging from these concerns is a new set of design principles and practices where nature needs to play a bigger part called “biophilic architecture”. This design approach asserts that humans have an innate connection with nature that can assist to make buildings and cities more effective human abodes. This paper examines the evidence for this innate human psychological and physiological link to nature and then assesses the emerging research supporting the multiple social, environmental and economic benefits of biophilic architecture

Investigate the changes in land use in the forest ecosystem of Strofylia

121 σ.Εθνικό Μετσόβιο Πολυτεχνείο--Μεταπτυχιακή Εργασία. Διεπιστημονικό-Διατμηματικό Πρόγραμμα Μεταπτυχιακών Σπουδών (Δ.Π.Μ.Σ.) “Περιβάλλον και Ανάπτυξη”Αντικείμενο της παρούσας διπλωματικής εργασίας είναι η διερεύνηση των μεταβολών χρήσεων γης στο δασικό οικοσύστημα της Στροφυλιάς, το οποίο απαντάται στη ΒΔ Πελοπόννησο, στους Νομούς Αχαΐας και Ηλείας. Στη συγκεκριμένη περίπτωση δημιουργείται ένα μεθοδολογικό πλαίσιο με βάση τα δεδομένα που συλλέχθηκαν για την περιοχή μελέτης, με το οποίο διερευνώνται οι αλλαγές χρήσεων γης, σε ένα από τα σπουδαιότερα δάση της Μεσογείου, από το 1965 έως το έτος 2007 καθώς και οι παράγοντες που τις επηρεάζουν. Τα δεδομένα που χρησιμοποιήθηκαν (πρωτογενές υλικό) για την εκπόνηση της παρούσας εργασίας αφορούν σε τηλεπισκοπικά κυρίως δεδομένα που απεικονίζουν το χωρικό μωσαϊκό του δάσους στο πέρασμα των χρόνων. Πιο συγκεκριμένα χρησιμοποιήθηκαν αεροφωτογραφίες της Γεωγραφικής Υπηρεσίας Στρατού, δύο περιόδων, του 1965 και του 2000 καθώς και ορθοφωτοχάρτες της περιοχής του έτους 2007, από την επίσημη ιστοσελίδα του Κτηματολογίου «Θέασης». Σημαντικό βέβαια κομμάτι των στοιχείων της εργασίας συλλέχθηκε από επιτόπια έρευνα του συγγραφέα στην περιοχή μελέτης σε συνδυασμό με την προσωπική επαφή και συζήτηση με κατοίκους και τοπικούς φορείς της περιοχής. Για τη διεξαγωγή της εν λόγω μελέτης χρησιμοποιήθηκαν τηλεπισκοπικές μέθοδοι (φωτοερμηνεία) σε συνδυασμό με τα Γεωγραφικά Συστήματα Πληροφοριών (ΓΣΠ), τα οποία αποτέλεσαν σημαντικά εργαλεία για τον εντοπισμό των αλλαγών που έχουν επέλθει στην περιοχή του δάσους της Στροφυλιάς. Κατά το τελευταίο στάδιο της μελέτης, επισημαίνονται τα σημαντικότερα συμπεράσματα που προκύπτουν από τη διεξαγωγή της εργασίας και προτείνονται στοιχειώδεις και ουσιαστικές λύσεις για την αποφυγή περαιτέρω υποβάθμισης του σπουδαίου φυσικού αυτού οικοσυστήματος.The subject of this thesis is to investigate the changes in land use in the forest ecosystem of Strofylia, which is located on the Northwest of Peloponnese, in the prefectures of Achaia and Elis. In this case there is a methodological framework based on the data collected for the study area, which investigates the changes in land use, in one of the most important forests in the Mediterranean, from 1965 until the year 2007, as well as the factors that affect them. The data used (raw material) for the designing of the present thesis is mainly remote-sensing data depicting the spatial mosaic of the forest over the years. More specifically, aerial photographs of the Military Geographical Service were used, of the periods of 1965 and 2000 respectively, as well as orthophotomaps of the area of the year 2007 which were collected from the official website of the Cadastre “Theasis”. Furthermore, an important piece of work was picked by on-site investigation conducted by the author in the study area in conjunction with the personal contact and discussion with the residents and the local authorities of the region. In order to conduct this study remote sensing methods (photo-interpretation) were used in combination with the Geographic Information Systems (GIS), which were important tools in order to detect the changes that have been occurred in the area of the forest of Strofylia. The final part of the study highlights the major findings arising from the conduct of the study and rudimental and significant solutions are proposed so as to prevent further degradation of this great natural ecosystem.Δανάυ Δ. Ευμορφοπούλο

Green Roof Concepts as a Passive Cooling Approach in Tropical Climate- An Overview

Nowadays, increasing of energy consumption due to global warming issues such as heat island effects has attracted the awareness of researchers, architects, engineers, property developers, and authorities to the crucial of green construction or sustainable development concept. Energy efficiency has been identified as a key consideration in discussions of this concept. In term of energy, Malaysia ranked 33rd in the list of global electricity consumption and 25th in the list of man-made carbon dioxide emissions. If energy consumption continues to increase at its current rate, domestic petroleum reserve in Peninsular Malaysia is predicted to be depleted by 2014 and Sarawak by 2020 [1]. As responding to the increasing of energy consumption, the demand of green roof technology as passive cooling technique has been recognized worldwide. Generally, by greening the rooftops in urban area, the impact on the urban climate and microclimate as well as on the indoor climate of buildings beneath them will be reduced. Therefore, this paper systematically review the concepts of green roof to give a basic understanding as global. Discussion on the benefits of this concept and its components among topic will be discussed