Multi-criteria decision-making tool for investigating the feasibility of the green roof systems in Egypt.

Abstract

Abstract Urbanization in Egyptian cities detracts from green spaces, which reduces the per capita ratio to lower the appropriate rates, which increases the different negative environmental effects such as heat island, air pollution, and energy consumption. In addition, different social and human comfort issues have been affected. In this context, building rooftops is a potential solution that could reduce the effect of green space area reduction and have multiple evidence-based benefits. The green roof has different environmental, economic, and social benefits. Consequently, numerous governmental and private initiatives have recently appeared to spread the rooftop greening concept in Egypt. These initiatives have adopted several planting systems, such as soil-based, Deep-Water Culture, and Nutrient Film Technique systems. This paper aims to study the commonly used systems and compare them in terms of environmental and economic factors. The paper introduces a tool that could help to choose the most suitable system according to their needs and tendencies. Different methodologies have been conducted to estimate the value of factors for different systems, including literature review, expert opinion collection, market survey, and energy simulation. Also, the Analytical Hierarchy Processes methodology has been proposed to weigh the different factors in reaching a final user decision. A python code has been conducted to establish the tool and published online to be available for different decision makers and researchers.