Vegetation and Thermal comfort in temperate areas: proposal of an integrated methodology for urban and building retrofit

The paper points out the main outcomes of a doctoral research carried out at the Department of Architecture of the University of Palermo, aimed at investigating the issues of environmental, social and economic sustainability related to the recovery of the existing building stock with focus on social housing. In particular, starting from the analysis carried out on a real case of the city of Palermo, through the use of specific simulation tools, the research provides a new methodology for the design and the assessment of the effectiveness of plants and Building-Integrated Vegetation systems used as a cost-effective solutions for urban and building retrofit, contributing to new knowledge and understanding of the impacts of vegetation in temperate areas for the increase of cities energy efficiency and users’ thermal comfort.