From: Biophilic streets: a design framework for creating multiple urban benefits
Area of benefit | Estimated economic and environmental benefit |
---|---|
Better workplace productivity | $2000 per employee per year from daylighting; $2990 per employee over 4 months when desks angled to view nature. |
Improved health and healing | $93 million per year in reduced hospital cost if natural features provided in the U.S. hospitals. |
Increased retail potential | Skylighting in a chain store would result in a 40% sales increase, ±7%. 25% higher sales in vegetated street frontage. |
Decreased crime and violence | Public housing with greenery had 52% reduction in felonies. Biophilic landscapes introduced across New York City would save $1.7 billion through crime reduction. |
Increased property values | Biophilic buildings attract higher rental prices, 3% per square foot or 7% in effective rents, selling at prices 16% higher. |
Employee attraction | Biophilics attract and retain high-quality workers. |
Increased liveability in dense areas | Green features increase salability of densely built apartment blocks. |
Carbon sequestration | In Singapore aboveground vegetation sequesters 7.8% of the total emitted daily carbon dioxide (Velasco et al., 2016). |
Reduced urban heat island effect and reduced energy consumption | Due to shading provided by urban trees, in Los Angeles annual residential air-conditioning (A/C) bills can be reduced directly by about US$100 million, additional savings of US$70 million in indirect cooling, US$360 million in smog-reduction benefits (Rosenfeld et al., 1998). |
Water management and quality | Up to 70% of stormwater retention capability, depending of the local climate and other conditions. |
Air quality | Urban street canyons full of greenery can reduce particulate matter by up to 60% and nitrogen dioxide by up to 40%. |
Biodiversity conservation | A study of 115 wildly colonized green roofs in north of France found that 86% of species were native to the area. |