Vertical greening in compact cities applying vertical landscape in downtown Chicago with integrated analysis and design approaches

Abstract

Compact cities as the globally norm are suffering green space insufficiency. Vertical greening (VG) including a green roof, living wall system and green façade is proposed as an effective solution for that. Benefits of VG are well-known, however, the success rate for its application is still low. To improve VG’s viability, plants selection, as one of the critical components of VG’s success, is mainly focused in this research—there are nine criteria proposed for plants suitability. Downtown Chicago is served as a pilot site in this research to apply VG. After the calculation for more suitable sites in downtown Chicago, three prototypes were proposed based on the building’s attributes, major users and common expectations. Planting fee information for each prototype has been provided at the same time. This research aims to improve VG’s viability by providing a theoretical guideline for suitable plants and VGs decision.