Publication
Title
Impact of vertical greening on urban microclimate and historic building materials : a meta-analysis
Author
Abstract
An urban environment is subject to elevated temperatures and higher pollution levels compared to less densely populated areas. Implementing green infrastructures, such as vertical greening, is one method to mitigate this effect. Vertical greening is especially suitable for built heritage in city centres due to the limited space required for plant growth, while still providing substantial green surface area. However, built heritage is often excluded from mitigation strategies due to the unknown potential risks of vertical greening on the degradation of historic building materials. This paper provides a meta-analysis of the literature to establish a current understanding of how the introduction of vertical greening affects microclimates near the surfaces of built heritage and associates those changes with common degradation mechanisms of historic building materials including salt crystallization, freeze-thaw weathering, biodeterioration and chemical weathering resulting from pollutant dispersion. Vertical greening can reduce the fluctuations of surface temperature, air temperature, relative humidity and the amount of solar irradiation and particulate matter on a wall, which is likely to reduce the risk of most common degradation mechanisms in historic building materials induced by salts and frost. Even though degradation induced by particulate matter and bio-activity has received less attention in the literature, our analysis suggests that these factors can also be influenced by vertical greening. The risk of chemical degradation appears to decrease with vertical greening while bioactivity may increase.
Language
English
Source (journal)
Building and environment. - Oxford
Related dataset(s)
Publication
Oxford : 2024
ISSN
0360-1323
DOI
10.1016/J.BUILDENV.2024.111365
Volume/pages
253 (2024) , p. 1-14
Article Reference
111365
ISI
001209219800001
Full text (Publisher's DOI)
Full text (open access)
UAntwerpen
Faculty/Department
Research group
Project info
Compatibility of urban green infrastructure and built heritage environments.
Characterising the impact of urban green initiatives on cultural heritage environments.
Publication type
Subject
Affiliation
Publications with a UAntwerp address
External links
Web of Science
Record
Identifier
Creation 06.03.2024
Last edited 06.07.2024
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