A Decision Support System for Plant Optimization in Urban Areas with Diversified Solar Radiation

Heyi Wei, Zhengdong Huang and Mu Lin
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Heyi Wei: Geodesign Research Centre for Plant, Environment and Human, College of City Construction, Jiangxi Normal University, Nanchang 330022, China
Zhengdong Huang: Research Institute for Smart Cities, School of Civil Engineering, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, China
Mu Lin: School of Urban Design, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China

Sustainability, 2017, vol. 9, issue 2, 1-20

Abstract: Sunshine is an important factor which limits the choice of urban plant species, especially in environments with high-density buildings. In practice, plant selection and configuration is a key step of landscape architecture, which has relied on an experience-based qualitative approach. However, the rationality and efficiency of this need to be improved. To maintain the diversity of plant species and to ensure their ecological adaptability (solar radiation) in the context of sustainable development, we developed the Urban Plants Decision Support System (UP-DSS) for assisting plant selection in urban areas with diversified solar radiation. Our methodology mainly consists of the solar radiation model and calibration, the urban plant database, and information retrieval model. The structure of UP-DSS is also presented at the end of the methodology section, which is based on the platform of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Microsoft Excel. An application of UP-DSS is demonstrated in a residential area of Wuhan, China. The results show that UP-DSS can provide a very scientific and stable tool for the adaptive planning of shade-tolerant plants and photoperiod-sensitive plants, meanwhile, it also provides a specific plant species and the appropriate types of plant community for user decision-making according to different sunshine radiation conditions and the designer’s preferences.

Keywords: Decision Support Systems (DSS); solar radiation; Geographic Information Systems (GIS); urban plants; adaptive planning; plant database (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
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