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Vertical greening systems (VGSs) represent an emerging technology within the field of building-integrated horticulture that have been used to help counteract the global issues of urbanisation and climate change. Research and development within the field of building-integrated horticulture, despite being in the infancy stage, is steadily progressing, highlighting a broad range of achievable social, environmental, and economic benefits this sustainable development technology could provide. However, as VGS technology is relatively new, an array of different designs and technologies have been categorized collectively as VGSs, each having various performances towards the proposed and desired benefits. The purpose of this paper is to review existing VGS technologies and analyse the impact of implementation on sustainable development, and subsequently to propose a new VGS design that theoretically achieves the best possible outcomes when aiming to obtain the maximum benefits of installing a VGS. The resultant design creates new opportunities for VGS environmental amenities and maintenance, increases the scope of applications, and improves the environmental performance of the host building. The proposed design has the potential to transform VGSs beyond conventional functions of aesthetic greening to create novel ecosystems, which enhances the formation of habitats for a more diverse range of flora and fauna. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Green spaces have become the most threatened by urban growth, and the decline in these areas is a main cause of environmental and social problems with implications for human health and well-being. Vertical greenery systems have been proposed as a solution to restore the connection between the city and nature, particularly in compact and dense cities, where horizontal space is limited. This paper provides a literature review to examine the influence of outdoor and indoor vertical greenery systems on human health and well-being. The Web of Science and Scopus databases were chosen to survey peer-reviewed documents published until October 2022. A total of 73 documents were selected by the search. Over 71% of the documents were published over the last four years, and most of them focused on the environmental and thermal benefits of vertical greenery systems. Although these benefits could bring health and well-being outcomes, they were not objectively measured and quantified. Other additional gaps and guidelines for future research were also identified and discussed. This review could be helpful for researchers and urban planners in developing vertical greenery to create healthy and more sustainable cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban green infrastructure improves the urban environment and enriches the lives of urban dwellers by positively affecting ambient temperatures, noise levels, and air quality, and creating an environment that promotes human health. Green technologies are increasingly used to increase green patches in urban areas. In this review of 108 vertical greenery publications, the potential physical and non-physical contributions of a subset of green infrastructure—vertical greenery systems—are presented. Most studies focus on how greenery improves the thermal performance of individual buildings and the potential energy savings, but non-physical benefits, such as health and well-being, have received little attention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the introduction of vertical greenery systems (VGSs) in Singapore, building designers have experimented with different VGS designs and types to apply to high-rise building facades. Although innovative designs have brought variety to the utilitarian high-rise facades clad in glass, steel and concrete, little consideration has been given to the issues of maintainability during the design/planning stage. This lack of foresight and planning has hindered the efforts of maintenance personnel and compromised the performance of such green facades. To address these concerns, an instrumental case study approach was undertaken using a series of site investigations and interviews with experts and stakeholders. The aim of this research was to strengthen the knowledge base on high-rise vertical greenery facades in the tropics, leading to the formulation of case study-based ‘design for maintainability’ (DfM) guidelines. These guidelines will assist clients, designers and contractors by providing a supplemental reference during the design, installation and maintenance of high-rise VGSs located in tropical regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • A vertical greenery system was modeled as a homogeneous layer. • An inverse thermal modeling algorithm, using genetic algorithms, was developed. • Apparent thermo-physical properties were determined for the homogeneous layer. • Apparent properties are developed as a function of sol-air temperature. • The thermal response of vertical greenery system can be modelled using the heat diffusion equation. Abstract Green façades or vertical greenery systems (VGSs) are continuously gaining attention among urbanists for improving the living comfort and energy efficiency in urban areas. However, modeling and simulating the thermal response of VGSs remains a research topic. This paper introduces a novel inverse modeling approach for modeling the thermal response of VGSs on building envelopes. The modeling approach considers the VGSs as a homogeneous layer with apparent thermo-physical properties. The approach optimizes the apparent thermo-physical properties by calibrating the inverse model using data generated by a detailed thermal response model of VGS or experimental data. It is shown that the predicted temperature of VGS deviates by less than ±1.3 °C, while the heat flux on the inner side of the building envelope deviates by less than ±0.3 W/m2 compared to the measured values. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the last decade, vertical greenery systems are increasing their presence in building designs, providing several urban ecosystem services. One of them is the potential to provide energy savings in buildings, which develops an important role, however, data about its performance during winter periods is still scarce. Therefore, the main objective of this paper is to compare at real scale the thermal performance of two different vertical greenery systems implemented in experimental houses-like cubicles for both cooling and heating periods. A double-skin green facade has been installed in the first cubicle that uses deciduous creeper plants, while the second one is designed with green walls made with evergreen species. Finally, a third identical cubicle without any green coverage is used as reference. Two different types of experiments have been carried out to test the performance of the house like-cubicles. One consists of controlling the internal ambient temperature providing heating or cooling to maintain the desired comfort conditions. On the other hand, to study the thermal response of the construction system, the heating, ventilation and air conditioning system was disconnected and the cubicles were tested under free floating condition. First results showed a high potential for energy savings during cooling season for green wall (58.9%) and double-skin green facade (33.8%) in comparison to the reference system. On the other hand, for heating periods no extra energy consumption was observed for evergreen system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Bibliometric analysis of vertical greenery systems (VGS)-related literature is conducted using CiteSpace. • Network maps have been developed to visualize the intellectual background, development trends and the current research status of VGS. • The major contributing bodies of VGS research at micro, meso and macro levels and the degree of collaboration among them are explored. • VGS literature is classified into state-of-the-art knowledge structure to achieve eight distinct sub-domains. • The most prominent sub-domain of VGS is thermal control and energy savings. Due to the rapid research advancements in vertical greenery systems (VGS) recently, the findings of VGS research are prolific. This study intends to visualize the intellectual background, main research frontiers and state-of-the-art knowledge structure of entire VGS domain by conducting a scientometric analysis using CiteSpace. The original research articles published between Jan 2000 to Sep 2021 were extracted from the Web of Science core collection (WOSCC) database and visualization networks of co-authorship, co-citation, co-occurrence, and cluster analysis of VGS related knowledge were developed to categorize the major contributing bodies involved in the flourishment of VGS-related research, such as, most prolific publications, highly productive authors, top contributing institutions, active countries, highly influential journals, documents, and keywords. Furthermore, current research hotspots and recently emerging sub-fields were discovered by using citation burst analysis, whereas cluster analysis was performed to categorize the entire VGS literature into knowledge clusters to achieve state-of-the-art knowledge structure of VGS domain consisting of various research themes. This study can be significantly helpful for scientists and engineers to distinguish among the most critical sub-domains of VGS literature and to identify the new research frontiers for focusing on the most significant aspects for future studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]