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Sustainability of Living Wall Systems Through An Ecosystem Services Lens

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Urban Horticulture

Part of the book series: Sustainable Development and Biodiversity ((SDEB,volume 18))

Abstract

The use of plants for shading the buildings having a pleasant ornamental effect is known for a long time. During the last decade, ecosystem services approach opens the way to analyze the multiple advantages that greening, included living walls, can provide to the urban environment. Regarding living walls, the main environmental benefits are heat island effect mitigation, noise pollution insulation, heating and cooling energy demand reduction, absorption of particulate matters, and enhancement of biodiversity . Living walls can also have a role in ameliorating physical and mental health and well-being and can be included in the urban horticulture initiatives both for food production and education purposes. Needing for recycled and low energy products for a greater environmental sustainability is also required in living wall systems (LWS). Therefore, the life cycle approach is considered as useful. The chapter is a critical review aimed at analyzing the environmental, social and economic sustainability of LWS for urban design . The multidisciplinary approach, carried out by agronomists and architects, allows to understand the problems and solutions for the improvement of the use of these systems in our cities. The research group is working on sustainable green wall systems that provide architectural and environmental benefits through the use of independent modular units, renewable materials, environmental friendly substrates, and native plants.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Agriculture, Forest and Food Sciences, University of Turin, Largo Paolo Braccini 2, 10095, Turin, Grugliasco, Italy

    F. Larcher & L. Battisti

  2. TEBE Research Group, Energy Department, Politecnico di Torino, C.so Duca degli Abruzzi 24, Turin, Italy

    L. Bianco & V. Serra

  3. Department of Architecture and Design, Politecnico di Torino, Viale Pier Andrea Mattioli 39, 10125, Turin, Italy

    R. Giordano, E. Montacchini & S. Tedesco

Authors
  1. F. Larcher
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  2. L. Battisti
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  3. L. Bianco
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  4. R. Giordano
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  5. E. Montacchini
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  6. V. Serra
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  7. S. Tedesco
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to F. Larcher .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, College of Agriculture, Tennessee State University, Nashville, Tennessee, USA

    Dilip Nandwani

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Larcher, F. et al. (2018). Sustainability of Living Wall Systems Through An Ecosystem Services Lens. In: Nandwani, D. (eds) Urban Horticulture. Sustainable Development and Biodiversity, vol 18. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-67017-1_2

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