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Assessment of Green Roof Suitability by Active Remote Sensing of University of British Columbia Buildings

Abstract

Green roofs are a promising mitigation tool against environmental concerns caused by increased urbanization. This study aims to address which of the University of British Columbia’s buildings are most suitable for a retrofitted green roof using active remote sensing. Through the assessment of the six characteristics of buildings, a suitability score was given to all the buildings within the area of interest on campus. The six suitability criteria are roof slope, rooftop area, building usage, building ownership, structural materials, and light intensity. The six suitability characteristics where selected based off literature on existing green roof retrofitting analyzing their structure, types and performance. This study is part of the Social Ecological Economic Development Studies (SEEDS) Sustainability Program to address sustainability policies and practices on UBC’s campus. The building suitability analysis resulted in the detection of five buildings with the greatest suitability score and their total rooftop area being 31,940.80 𝑚 2 . Each of the five buildings then was further investigated in terms of the vegetation health and density surrounding the buildings to isolate potential concerns of planting in the area. The mean NDVI of the existing greenery surrounding the top five suitable buildings is 0.67, indicative of moderate to high density vegetation. Implementing green roof retrofitting on the suitable UBC buildings requires an additional accessibility analysis to maximize the positive social impacts of increasing campus greenery and make decisions on the green roof structure.

MGEM Student: Sarah Moniz de Sa
Community Partner: SEEDS Sustainability Program

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Cite this project

Moniz de Sa, Sarah, 2023, “Assessment of Green Roof Suitability by Active Remote Sensing of University of British Columbia Buildings”, https://doi.org/10.5683/SP3/LVXF0V, Borealis, V1

Master of Geomatics for Environmental Management
Faculty of Forestry
University of British Columbia
2424 Main Mall
Vancouver, BC Canada V6T 1Z4
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