Submitted by Sdecker on 9 April 2019
INPS (National Institute Social Insurance) Green Facade - Genoa neighborhood of Sestri Ponente
Area characterisation: 

Located in the city center of the Genova (high population density) in Sestri Ponente neighborhood. 

Slideshow:

INPS green facade project - In the process of installation INPS green facade project - Overview
Objective: 

A vertical greening system installed on the facade of an office building built early in the last century and renovated in the 1980’s, owned by INPS (National Institute of Social Insurance) and located in the city center of the Genova neighborhood of Sestri Ponente.

INPS Green Facade is a pilot project coordinated by the University of Genoa (DAD) which aims to quantify the positive effects of the green envelopes in densely built urban environment. Monitoring activities are focused on the evaluation of the environmental benefits, both economic and social, in particular in densely urbanised areas, with special attention to the Mediterranean area. 

This NbS is also combined with energy consumption reduction solutions.

NbS benefits 
  • Developing climate change adaptation; improving risk management and resilience
  • Reducing temperature at meso or micro scale
  • More energy efficient buildings
  • Reduction of energy in the production of new buildings and building materials
  • Increase Biodiversity
  • Enhancing sustainable urbanisation
  • Changing image of the urban environment
  • Improve air quality
  • Increase awareness of NBS solution & their effectiveness and co benefits
  • Increase stakeholder awareness & knowledge about NBS
  • Increase well-being
  • Social learning about location & importance of NBS
Transferability of the result: 

Process enablers:
Knowledge drivers → Awareness → NbS ambassadors
The process benefits from the existing knowledge (from all the stakeholders) regarding NbS in cities and it was possible to generate the missing knowledge.

Process inhibitors:
Knowledge barriers → Uncertainty → Performance unknow
The process suffered from the concerns of some of the stakeholders regarding the unknown consequences.

Expected time for the NbS to become fully effective after its implementation:
Medium (between 2 to 5 years).

Feedback:  still well adapted

Expected life time: Around 10 years

Dates (for project delivered): 2015

BUSINESS MODEL:
Business cluster: Technological
Business model: Maximize material productivity and energy efficiency

Financing: 

Global (estimated) cost of the project: 50k€ - 200k€

Financing mechanism: cluster1 public financing, European Regional and Development Fund ERDF
Invitation to tender for public works.

NbS classification 
  • Objects Shapes
  • On building structures
  • Vertical structures green walls façades
  • Living wall systems
Contacts: 

Elisa , Massa (elisa.massa@rina.org)
RINA (landscape/architecture agency, www.rina.org)
Via S.Nazaro 19, 16145 Genova, Italy

Further information

Nature4Cities (https://www.nature4cities.eu/) aims to develop a knowledge diffusion around Nature-Based Solution (NbS) and a decision support platform through new collaborative models.

This project is part of the Nature4Cities's pioneer case studies database, it will feed the observatory, NbS pre-selection and replication tools, gathered into the Geocluster4NBS.

This project was chosen as a pioneer case study for the following reasons: the project is a Pilot project of green facade in Genoa

Nature4Cities project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement No 730468.

Media coverage

Urban challenges
Climate issues: 
Climate mitigation
Water management and quality: 
Flood management
Air quality: 
Air quality locally
Biodiversity and urban space: 
Biodiversity
Soil management: 
Soil management and quality
Public health and well-being: 
Health
Urban planning and governance: 
Urban planning and form
Key Performance Indicators: