With the constant growth of built areas in urban spaces, an increased demand for infrastructure and organization is emerging. This can hardly be met in many areas that have a high population density in Germany. Climate change, urban heat island effect, increasing demand for cooling energy, deterioration of air quality, noise pollution, and declining biodiversity are posing an additional challenge. The focus of VertiKKA is on the conception and prototypical implementation of low-maintenance, self-regulating green façade modules with integrated photovoltaic elements. These greening elements are designated for greywater treatment, which is to be used for irrigation.

VertiKKA aims to provide a comprehensive model solution for an innovative new building block of sustainable urban development. The integration of water management and land use aspects opens up new synergy potentials - with far-reaching advantages for sustainable material flow management, increased resource efficiency, greater resilience to extreme weather conditions, and upgrading the urban image.

VertiKKA's cross-disciplinary and cross-sector objectives are consistently reflected in the approach and composition of the consortium and supplemented by close cooperation with local partners such as the City of Cologne and the Cologne municipal wastewater management organisation.

Funded by:

The German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) as part of the funding initiative Resource-Efficient Urban Districts (RES:Z)

Project duration:

04/2019 - 03/2022

Contact partner:

Dr.-Ing. Hayder Alsaad, Assoc. AIA

Tel. +49 3643 584744

Research partner:

Andreas Aicher, M.Sc.

Chair of Urban Water Management and Sanitation, Bauhaus-Universität Weimar

Collaboration project with 9 research partners from the academia and the industry.

Website:
vertikka.de/en/