Uso de sistemas vegetados e os impactos na promoção da saúde

Abstract

Changes to original ground cover caused by housing construction and roadway systems generally alter the surface heat flow, accumulating more heat than is dissipated and resulting in higher urban temperatures than in rural and tree-covered areas. Urban heat waves affect human health directly and indirectly. Vutcovici et al. 1 report significant associations between increases in hospitalizations, deaths, and diseases and rising daily temperatures in cities. Considering the upward trends in mean temperatures due to climate change and the effects of population aging, such adverse health outcomes can be expected to increase. There is also a growing overall demand for energy to climatize housing. In addition to increasing average global temperatures and contributing to global warming, the use of non-renewable energy sources also impacts health by degrading air quality. To improve quality of life in large cities, it is essential to mitigate the environmental problems from unchecked urbanization by using sustainable technologies and solutions. The preservation of green areas and the recovery of degraded areas help attenuate the adverse effects of urban heat islands and torrential rains, due to moisture absorption by plants and infiltration in the soil, in addition to improving the thermal comfort of housing. However, given the rising population density, there is a limited reserve of available areas for recovery of plant cover. The installations of green roofs and walls in new and existing housing units aims to attenuate the problems resulting from unsustainable urbanization. These green systems have the potential effect of mitigating urban flooding, attenuating indoor temperatures and heat islands, improving air quality, and muffling noise, among other benefits discussed in the following paragraphs. The role of vegetation in attenuating urban heat islands: green roofs and walls as a possible solution According to Heisler 2 , differences between urban and rural microclimates are due mainly to the higher temperatures and lower relative humidity in cities. Temperature differences result from differences in land occupation and use, since solar radiation in cities is extensively absorbed by the building materials in general. On surfaces without plant cover and exposed to direct sunlight, the absorbed heat is irradiated, heating the air and substantially increasing the urban temperature. The thermal discomfort and adverse human effects are considerable in such conditions, due to the direct Green roofs and green walls and their impact on health promotion Uso de sistemas vegetados e os impactos na promoção da saúde Uso de sistemas vegetales y los impactos en la promoción de la salud

Health Impact Assessment in protected areas: a proposal for urban contexts in Brazil

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Telhados verdes: contribuições ambientais com ênfase em sequestro de carbono

“…Another example in Brazilian territory is the municipality of Blumenau, Santa Catarina, whose Complementary Law No. 1,174/2018, reduces the permeable area of land from 20% to 10% if there is an increase in the equivalent area for green roofs in the building (Feitosa and Wilkinson, 2018).…”