Assessment of environmental performance of vertical greening systems

Vertical greening systems are also known as green walls, living walls, or green facades. They are considered a sustainable/green building design approach and are becoming increasingly popular in the world. By using the natural processes of the vegetation, they can contribute to mitigating urban heat island, enhancing building’s thermal performance, saving cooling energy and improving air quality. As the space available for greening is often very limited in urban cities, vertical greening can be an effective method to improve the city environment. However, as vertical greening systems require materials to build and resources to maintain, there are queries about whether they are really worthy for adoption and how to enhance their environmental performance. This research aims to assess the environmental performance of vertical greening systems and investigate the important considerations for effective and sustainable building design. The common types of vertical greening systems are evaluated and the key factors of environmental performance are examined. To enhance the environmental performance and potential benefits of the vertical greening, the life cycle environmental impacts, integrated sustainable technologies and holistic ecological and social factors should be considered carefully in the planning, design and maintenance of the systems