Enhancing urban resilience in hot humid climates: A conceptual framework for exploring the environmental performance of vertical greening systems (VGS)

Abstract

Vertical greening systems (VGS) are promising green infrastructure (GI) techniques for addressing urban resilience issues, like mitigating high temperatures and air pollution. This research aims to develop a conceptual framework to help designers better understand the VGS' effects on buildings and urban areas, focusing on thermal performance and air quality improvement in hot, humid climates. The framework consists of three steps: (1) Identifying climate problems that hinder the improvement of built environment resilience in hot climates; (2) Selecting VGS as a type of GI that can enhance urban resilience; (3) Identifying the common key factors that impact both thermal performance and air quality while developing VGS at the urban and building scales. The results show that the framework can be customized to suit hot climate conditions. However, when applying VGS in built environment with specified climate conditions, the construction of VGS, greenery coverage ratio, plant species, facade orientation, and VGS formation have the most significant influences on their environmental performance. Additionally, the air gap between VGS and the facade has optimal performance in hot, humid climates. The paper concludes with some recommendations for future research and practice on VGSs in hot and humid climates.