transPLANTing Heat island Effects in Tokyo
This research documents recent outcomes set forth by the Guidelines for Heat Island Control Measures (GHICM) in 2005 by the Bureau of the Environment, Tokyo Metropolitan Government. These guidelines incentivized development in general to implement such techniques as green roof, living wall and water-retaining pavements as intensive heat island control measures in the central urban core of Tokyo. The original research findings of this paper stem from a 2016 Snell Endowment for Transportation Research grant intended to disseminate such metrics as methodology for future transportation development, specifically focused on transportation infrastructure's adaptation of the GHICM and the implementation of living wall systems. This study qualitatively documents three living wall systems in transportation infrastructure design in the most intense heat areas defined by the GHICM: JR Tokyo Train Station Drop-off, Ookayama Station/Hospital and Ginza Station terrace. Ultimately, this comparative research facilitates transportation infrastructure optimization, novel implementation of green building techniques and heat-island reduction through physical and cultural potentials.