Urban Greening Factor
The Urban Greening Factor (UGF) is a metric used in the United Kingdom to evaluate the quantity and quality of green infrastructure in urban development projects. It provides a score based on the proportion of green spaces, vegetation, and other ecological features integrated into a proposed development.
The UGF encourages the inclusion of elements like green roofs, parks, gardens, and permeable surfaces. These features help address urban challenges such as air pollution, heat island effects, stormwater management, and biodiversity loss.
This metric is increasingly adopted worldwide to guide urban development toward more environmentally resilient and livable cities.
To use the UGF calculator:
Create the boundary of the project by adding a site model, or by drawing a simple polygon.
Attach the Urban Greening Factor Site record format to the boundary object, so that the Sustainability Dashboard can properly identify the object as total site area. The sustainability record formats are located in the Libraries\Defaults folder in the Record Formats\Sustainability file. See Attaching record formats to a symbol instance or object for information on how to attach records to objects.
Create the appropriate surface cover objects that make up the project. For a preliminary design, use geometry such as circles, polygons, and rectangles, and attach the Urban Greening Factor Surface Cover record format. For a more advanced design, use tools like the Hedgerow, Landscape Area, Hardscape, Plant, Existing Tree, and more.
To open the Urban Greening Factor Surface Cover Editor dialog box, do one of the following:
For parametric objects created by Vectorworks tools, click Settings from the Object Info palette, and open the Sustainability pane. Click New Framework. For the Framework, select Urban Greening Factor Surface Cover, and then click Edit Framework.
For a hedgerow object, click Sustainability Framework from the Object Info palette. In the Hedgerow Sustainability Data dialog box, click New Framework. For the Framework, select BNG Sheet, and then click Edit Framework.
For geometry, click Edit Sustainability Data from the Data tab of the Object Info palette.
Use the Eyedropper tool to pick up data from one object with an attached record and drop it onto other, similar ones. For larger projects, save the sustainability settings of parametric objects as a style. You can also use the Data Manager to attach the record as a criteria-based object.
From the Urban Greening Factor Surface Cover Editor dialog box, specify the parameters related to the surface coverage.
Click to show/hide the parameters.Click to show/hide the parameters.
|
Parameter |
Description |
|
Cover Type |
Select the type of coverage from the categories in the list |
|
Factor |
Displays the predefined surface cover value per unit |
|
Notes |
Enter optional notes about the particular object or style |
In the Sustainability Dashboard, the total site area and current Urban Greening Factor displays. Select participating layers. As you add more cover types to the design, click Recalculate; the dashboard indicates the results. See The Sustainability Dashboard.
The factor will go up or down, depending on the coverage values of participating objects.
Once you have achieved a design with required results, click Export to create a report that can be submitted or shared with an expert for review.
