1. General information
Location and description of the intervention
City or FUA
Genova
Region
Europe
Native title of the NBS intervention
“Sito sperimentale per la ricerca e dimostrazione sui benefici ambientali del verde pensile in area urbana”
Short description of the intervention
The project, concerning the installation of an experimental site for research and demonstration on the environmental benefits of the green roof in urban areas, arises from the need of the public administrations, and in particular the City of Genoa, to get a thorough technical knowledge in order to make urban planning tools more effective in the process of improving life quality in the urban environment (1).
Address

Via Montallegro, 1
16145 Genova
Italy

Location
Point location, which indicates where the NBS takes place
NBS area
1000.00m²
Type of area before implementation of the NBS
Residential
Building
Website of the intervention
http://www.dicat.unige.it/verdepensile/Progetto%20Sperimentale.pdf
Timeline of intervention
Start date of the intervention (planning process)
unknown
Start date of intervention (implementation process)
2007
End date of the intervention
2007
Present stage of the intervention
Completed
Goals of the intervention
The goal is to start from this pilot project and expand to other buildings in the city of Genova as concrete quantitative data is collected from this intervention. The project aims to transfer on a wider scale the benefits already encountered in this single intervention, identifying the critical mass useful to perceive the benefits of a widespread use of green roofs in urban areas. Genoa, due to its typical aspects such as orography, intense urbanisation and urban hydrology, is offered as an ideal application field. The general purpose of the project is to promote the use of green roofs in urban areas by providing the technical and scientific evidence needed to take targeted legislative action. The special focus of the project is especially on the rainfall water absorption services the green roof can offer, in a city particularly affected by heavy rains (1).
Quantitative targets
• Reduced volume flow (network input)
• Reduce the intensity of the full spike
• Maintaining water supply
• Reduction of single sewage drainage
• Limiting the transport of pollutants (2).
Monitoring indicators defined
1. Precipitation, temperature and air humidity; radiation solar accident and atmospheric pressure.
2. Evapotranspiration calculated with methods based on theoretical physics of microclimate ;
3. Overflow rate measured continuously by measure of level and control section.
4. Measures of ground humidity (TDR probes)
5. Collection of sludge samples
6. Meteoric waters and physical chemical analysis (4).
Sustainability challenge(s) addressed
Water management (SDG 6)
Flood protection
Stormwater and rainfall management and storage
Environmental quality
Air quality improvement
Social justice, cohesion and equity (SDG 10)
Environmental and climate justice
Implementation activities
The specific project activity will consist of a systematic collection of quantitative data describing the observed behaviour of the green roof structure in response to meteoric events, and in their interpretation in light of the constructive and performance characteristics of the
technical coverage made. Two new green roofs were installed using modern techniques are their performance is compared to the one of a green roof already existing there since 1969 (1).
Type of NBS project
Creation of new green areas
Knowledge creation and awareness raising
NBS domain and interventions
Ecological domain(s) where the NBS intervention(s) is/are implemented
Nature on buildings (external)
Green roofs
Type of Green Roof
Semi-intensive Green Roof: depth 5 - 7 inches; plants: Selected Perennials, Sedums, ornamental Grasses, Herbs and little Shrubs; Medium maintenance and costs
Vegetation Type
Other
Amenities offered by the NBS
Unknown
Services
Expected ecosystem services delivered
Regulating services
Local climate regulation (temperature reduction)
Air quality regulation
Carbon storage/sequestration
Flood regulation
Other
Cultural services
Aesthetic appreciation
Other
Please specify "other regulating service"
Limiting the transport of pollutants (2).
Please specify "other cultural service"
provide scientific information for legislative action: The general purpose of the project is to promote the use of green roofs in urban areas by providing the technical and scientific evidence needed to take targeted legislative action. (1)
Scale
Spatial scale
Sub-microscale: Street scale (including buildings)
Beneficiaries
Primary Beneficiaries
Researchers/University
Governance
Governance arrangements
Co-governance with government and non-government actors
Non-government actors
Non-governmental organisation (NGO) / Civil society / Churches
Researchers, university
Please specify the roles of the specific government and non-government actor groups involved in the initiative
This NBS intervention is the result of a partnership between the University, the Municipality of Genova and the Italian Association for Green Roofs. (1).
Key actors - initiating organization
Local government/municipality
Land owners
Educational actor (schools or universities)
Key actors - Other stakeholders involved (besides initiating actors)
Local government/municipality
Non-government organisation/civil society
Researchers/university
Citizens or community group
Land owners
Educational actor (schools or universities)
Participatory methods/forms of community involvement used
Dissemination of information and education
Policy drivers
NBS intervention implemented in response to an Regional Directive/Strategy
No
NBS intervention implemented in response to a national regulations/strategy/plan
No
NBS intervention implemented in response to a local regulation/strategy/plan
No
Please specify the "local regulation/strategy/plan"
The projects results will be used as evidence to develop targeted legislative actions (1 and 2)
Mandatory or voluntary intervention
Voluntary (spontaneous)
Please specify other type of voluntary intervention
Voluntary infrastructural intervention on the faculty building (1 and 2).
Enablers
Presence of specific city-level GI/NBS vision/strategy/plan - mentioned in connection to the project
Unknown
Presence of specific city-level GI/NBS section/part in a more general plan - mentioned in connection to the project
Unknown
Please specify other vegetation type
unspecified beyond ' green roofs' (1)
Two new green roofs were installed using modern techniques are their performance is compared to the one of a green roof already existing there since 1969 (1).
Presence of city network or regional partnerships focused on NBS - mentioned in connection to the project
Unknown
Presence of GI / NBS research project - mentioned in connection to the project
Yes
Please specify
The installation of the green roof provided an experimental site for research and demonstration on the environmental benefits of the green roof in urban areas with the aim to provide the technical and scientific evidence needed to take targeted legislative action (1). The goal was to start from this pilot project and expand to other buildings in the city of Genova as concrete quantitative data is collected from this intervention (1).
Subsidies/investment for GI / NBS in the city - mentioned in connection to the project
Unknown
Co-finance for NBS
Unknown
Co-financing governance arrangements
Unknown
Was this co-governance arrangement already in place, or was it set up specifically for this NBS?
Unknown
Financing
Total cost
Unknown
What is/was the Cost/Budget (EUR) of the NBS or green infrastructure elements?
Unknown
What are the total amount of expected annual maintenance costs?
Unknown
What is the expected annual maintenance costs of the NBS or GI elements?
Unknown
Please specify cost savings
Unknown
Please specify total cost (EUR)
Unknown
Source(s) of funding
Unknown
Type of fund(s) used
Unknown
Non-financial contribution
Unknown
Please specify other Business model
The NBS had a strong research component, it was seen as an experimental action which, if successful, could have been implemented in other cities (1,2)
provide scientific information for legislative action: The general purpose of the project is to promote the use of green roofs in urban areas by providing the technical and scientific evidence needed to take targeted legislative action. (1)
Business models
Risk reduction model
Green education model
Other
Which of the involved actors was motivated by this model?
Private non-for-profit actor (e.g. NGO, foundation)
Type of innovation
Technological
Product innovation
Social
Governance innovation
Please specify technological innovation
Green roof applied to an already existing building to improve rainfall water management (1 and 2).
Please specify social innovation
The project wants to enhance, the natural functions of a lab-city with a public-private synergy. With the systematic collection of quantitative data describing the observed behaviour of the green roofs, provide evidence for targeted legislative action (1 and 2).
Novelty level of the innovation
Unknown
Please specify novelty level of the innovation
Unknown
Replicability/Transferability
Ambiguous (e.g. multiple interpretations)
Please specify Replicability/Transferability
The proposed monitoring facility represents a pilot demonstration project that will be the first element of a network of observation sites on the entire urban area of the city of Genoa made with the contribution of both public and private funding. This still needs to happen, but it is expected to happen (1).
Impacts, benefits
Environmental impacts
Climate change
Enhanced carbon sequestration
Water management and blue areas
Increased protection against flooding
Improved stormwater management
Description of environmental benefits
In 2006, one of the researchers working on the NBS issued a paper called "Il verde pensile e la gestione delle acque meteoriche in ambiente urbano" (Green roof and the management of rain water in the urban environment). This paper is attached to the NBS. In it, the author concluded that the main effect of the green roof in relation to the management of rainwater is therefore the reduction in the cumulative volume of surface flow on an annual scale. The retention (storage and dispersion) of the volume of rain, to be imputed to consumption for the water needs of the vegetation and to dispersion into the atmosphere by evapotranspiration through vegetation and by evaporation from exposed surfaces, is the process with which explains this reduction. The quality of runoff water generated by a vegetated roof, evaluated as types of contaminants and relative concentrations, depends on several factors: on the construction technique used (thickness of the soil layer, composition of the soil, vegetation and type of drainage layer), maintenance operations, use of the soil in the areas surrounding the roof (residential, industrial areas), the presence of local sources of pollution and the age of the roof itself (time elapsed since installation). Due to evapotranspiration, some substances among those dissolved in the water present in the soil, they precipitate and bind to soil or the solid matrix of the draining substrate. Over the precipitation events the precipitated substances can be washed away and transported by subsurface flowing waters. (Other conclusions can be reached in the references attached, namely 4 and 5)
The outflow coefficient provides volume information of water discharged within 15 minutes of precipitation (3).
Economic impacts
Unknown
Please specify other socio-cultural impact
legislative action (1, 2)
Description of economic benefits
Unknown
Social and cultural impacts
Education
Increased support for education and scientific research
Other
Description of social and cultural benefits
The project enhances the natural functions of a lab-city with a public-private synergy. With the systematic collection of quantitative data describing the observed behaviour of the green roofs, provide evidence for targeted legislative action (1 and 2).
Type of reported impacts
Achieved impacts
Indicators
The outflow coefficient provides volume information of water discharged within 15 minutes of precipitation (3).
Environmental, social and economic impacts
Water management (SDG 6)
Analysis of specific impact categories
Job creation: The NBS created ...
No information available
Environmental justice: The implementation of the NBS project resulted in ...
Positive distribution of NBS benefits
Negative impacts: Did the project cause any problems or concerns?
No information was found regarding negative impacts of the project
COVID-19 pandemic
Unknown as of September 10, 2020.
Methods of impact monitoring
Process of recording NBS impacts
Conduct a baseline survey before and after NBS implementation
Methods used to evaluate the impacts of NBS
Measurements of biophysical aspects of the NBS (e.g. temperature, water flow)
Observation (including virtual surveillance methods)
Where can this data be accessed? Please include a link to a report or web-page.
http://www.dicat.unige.it/verdepensile/palla.pdf
Evidence for use of assessment
Presence of an assessment, evaluation and/or monitoring process
Yes
Presence of indicators used in reporting
Yes
Presence of monitoring/evaluation reports
Yes
Link to monitoring/evaluation reports
http://www.dicat.unige.it/verdepensile/palla.pdf
Availability of a web-based monitoring tool
No evidence in public records
Impact assessment mechanism
Name of any specific impact assessment tools
Software used: EPA SWIMM 5
- Schematicization of the system
- Subdivision into 6 sub-basins in relation to slopes.
- Finding preferential water trails and the maximum distances traveled by the water in each sub-basin.
- Definition of pipeline paths for collection of water, diameters, lengths and slopes.

Model Parameters for Waterproof Roof:
- Waterproof surface percentage: 100%
- Manning coefficient for each sub-basin n.
- Maximum height of surface depressions D-imperv
- % Surface without surface depression (% 0-Imperv) (4).
Link to the output of assessments
http://www.dicat.unige.it/verdepensile/palla.pdf
Use of GIS in mapping impacts
No evidence in public records
Citizen involvement
Citizens involvement in assessment/evaluation
Unknown
Please specify other modes of citizen involvement in evaluation/assessment
Unknown
Citizens involvement in the analysis of the assessment/evaluation
Unknown
Please specify
Unknown
Follow-up to the evaluation / assessment
Unknown
Please specify
Unknown
References
Web links relevant to the intervention
Pilot Project
Project Presentation
Observations
University research on NBS impacts
Documents relevant to the intervention
Attachment Size
Anna Palla, DICAT (362.23 KB) 362.23 KB
List of references
1. Dicat (2006), Sito sperimentale per la ricerca e dimostrazione sui benefici ambientali del verde pensile in area urbana, Available at http://www.dicat.unige.it/verdepensile/Progetto%20Sperimentale.pdf (Accessed 3-9-2020)

2. DICAT (2006), Project Presentation, Available at http://www.dicat.unige.it/verdepensile/Lanza.pdf (Accessed 3-9-2020)

3. Harpo (no date), IL TETTO VERDE MEDITERRANEO: Observations, Available at http://www.harpogroup.it/sites/default/files/harpogroup.it/media-areatecnica/allegato/harpo_verdepensile_brochure_disciplina.pdf (Accessed 3-9-2020)

4. DICAT (2007), University research on NBS impacts, Available at http://www.dicat.unige.it/verdepensile/palla.pdf,(Accessed 3-9-2020)

5.L’Ambiente (2007), Il verde pensile e la gestione delle acque meteoriche in ambiente urbano, Document attached.
Comments and notes
Comments
2017 comments:
I've been struggling in finding data published after 2008. I could not understand if the project is still going on or if it was completed and expanded to other buildings. No data is available online other than the one I attached here and I could not find references on the university website. I found pictures of the green roof taken in 2015 and it looks like it's still there.

Update September 2020:
It is indeed very hard to find information about this NBS, post 2017.
Pictures of the NBS
/sites/default/files/nbs/images/tetto_verde_genova.jpg
Public Images
Image of the NBS during implementation
http://www.dicat.unige.it/verdepensile/palla.pdf