Climate adaptive urban measures in Mediterranean areas: Thermal effectiveness of an advanced multilayer green roof installed in Palermo (Italy)

Abstract

Several nature based and climate adaptive solutions have been proposed to improve cities resilience to the effects of global warming and restore natural processes in strongly anthropized areas. Green roofs are among the most efficient nature based solutions to address recurrent urban challenges, such as pluvial floods and urban heat islands. Various benefits offered by green roofs are rather known, such as their capacity to enhance buildings thermal insulation; green roofs also favor urban biodiversity, improving buildings aesthetic value and human well being. Multilayer green roofs (MGRs) are green roofs with an additional layer that increases their water storage capacity. Deep analyses on MGRs are still lacking due to their recent development, and the few works in literature are prevalently focused on their stormwater retention primary function. This work explores the thermal function of an experimental MGR prototype installed in Palermo (Italy), comparing its response to local climate with that of an unaltered portion of the rooftop through the analysis of surface temperature time series collected over a two years monitoring period. Performances are evaluated thought various daily thermal indices, also analyzing the role of the water stored into the system. Results contribute to raise awareness about the benefits arising from the use of MGRs in semi-arid Mediterranean urban areas, confirming, as main thermal advantage, their cooling effect, with mean daily surface temperature reduced by 8.4% outdoor and 5.8% indoor; performances increases with water storage and are particularly evident during the hot and dry summers that typically characterize such regions.