Urban Green School

Urban green infrastructure is a valuable resource for improving microclimate and reducing the impact of climate change in cities. The aim of this master thesis is to develop a greening concept for schools, which is presented through a design study for an Urban Green School in Vienna as an architectural response to challenges of climate change.

The project aims the development of a concept for greening measures for schools and the investigation of the potential of greening strategies to reduce the Urban Heat Island effect, demonstrated through the showcase of an "Urban Green School" in Vienna. The Urban Green School concept addresses a variety of challenges in improving quality of life in cities. By combining education and environment, a broader scope for implementing urban green infrastructure in construction projects is created. Schools have a high potential to raise the awareness of local communities and society about the importance of ensuring a healthy environment and increasing biodiversity, and more specifically reducing the Urban Heat Island effect. The question how microclimate and climate resiliency are influenced by greenery is addressed by the research conducted in the thesis. The insights are related to selecting specific Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that have a major impact on microclimate and thermal comfort and the way in which these can be modified by greening interventions and design strategies. Microclimate simulation and environmental evaluation tools are applied for calculating and visualizing the impact of green infrastructure, as well as comparing the specific performances of different design scenarios. The analysis of the simulation results of the Urban Green School in Vienna clearly shows the potential of greening measures in reducing the Urban Heat Island effect. The heat maps show that the cooling effect of green infrastructure in the design also improves the microclimate of the surrounding areas. At city level the Urban Green School concept can be applied in several locations across all districts to reduce the Urban Heat Island effect on a larger scale. This expands and intensifies the network of urban green infrastructure through educational facilities. This concept is however not limited to schools. Knowledge gained in the Urban Green Schools approach can also be applied to other urban typologies and thereby promote climate resilient design and accelerate the development of green cities.