THE PROBLEM
Nature-based solutions will play an important role in tackling urban challenges in a multifunctional way. Modern green roofs and walls are one of the most promising alternatives as they can green the grey infrastructure and value it in the long run (e.g., water management, biodiversity, air quality, aesthetics and well-being). Yet, green roofs and walls have been generally confined to specific cities or countries. An extensive use worldwide will happen when their economic merit is generally known and accepted. Since green roofs and walls imply additional costs when compared to traditional solutions, this implies reliable life-cycle cost analyses. Yet,  current approaches do not address all social, environmental and economic aspects nor the complex relationship between them and so their real value is still not clear.


ABOUT

GENESIS is a research project promoted by Instituto Superior Técnico, Instituto Superior de Agronomia and University of Aveiro.

The project is funded by FCT - Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology, project PTDC/GESURB/29444/2017




OBJECTIVES

  • To support decision makers to make robust and informed decisions regarding the real economic value of green roofs/walls solutions.
  • Additionally, to help design effective incentive mechanisms able to significantly leverage the large-scale develpment of such systems.



STRATEGY

The project will:

  1. Task 1 1-Survey of cost-benefit analysis of green roofs/walls 2- Survey of green roofs/walls projects 3- Long-term costs/benefits modelling 4- Translation of benefits into economic gains
  2. Task 2 1- Establishing a methodological approach to perform cost-benefit analysis 2- Modelling life-cycle costs and benefits 3- Modelling uncertainty in the evaluation 4- Development of multicriteria model 5- Development of the integrated model
  3. Task 3 1- Cost-benefit analysis of greening existing roofspaces in a city 2- Cost-benefit analysis of greening transport infrastructures 3- Cost-benefit analysis of greening primary schools 4- Cost-benefit analysis of greening tourist accommodations
  4. Task 4 1- Workshops 2- Publications in international journals and conferences 3- Web page 4- Guideline towards evaluating green roofs/walls environmental economic and social savings 5- User-friendly mobile app for quick assessment of the viability of green roofs/walls