Vertical greenery systems and its effect on campus: a meta-analysis

Abstract. The studies on vertical greenery systems are increasing due to its presence in technology and research that are composed with sustainable approaches. The remarkable functions of vertical greenery systems comprise of facilitating urban adaptation to a warm climate, reducing internal wall temperatures, and mitigating building energy consumption. Apart from it’s benefits for the environment, it is also visually appealing and promotes healthier air quality. There are two major methods in constructing vertical greenery systems; ground- based system and wall-based system of vegetation. This paper disseminates plants with a passive cooling character as it helps cool the air and buildings on which it is installed, naturally. Approximately 46 articles were reviewed from multidisciplinary fields such as that of renewable and sustainable energy, plant physiology, ecological engineering, and built environment. This paper focuses on experimentations, simulations and case studies, which were conducted in a few university campuses to investigate thermal regulation feature of vertical greenery systems. Building effects were evaluated time-dependently for different cases and the results were thoroughly compared according to researchers’ observations on the methodologies. Regions and climate conditions of tropical, Mediterranean, and oceanic were also considered within the scope of this research as independent variables. As a result of the meta-analysis, thermal reduction was achieved based on several factors including physiology of plants and vertical greenery system’s classifications. Hence, this paper suggests VGS has capability to enhance strategies of the urban heat island mitigation in order to improve thermal performances in campus building