Measuring the influence of the greening design of the building environment on the urban real estate market in Taiwan

Building and Environment 45 (2010) 2057e2067

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Building and Environment journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/buildenv

Measuring the influence of the greening design of the building environment on the urban real estate market in Taiwan Kuei-Feng Chang a, Po-Cheng Chou b, * a b

Department of Real Estate Management, National Pingtung Institute of Commerce, Taiwan Department of Interior Design, Shu-Te University, Kaohsiung County, Taiwan

a r t i c l e i n f o

a b s t r a c t

Article history: Received 4 December 2009 Received in revised form 3 February 2010 Accepted 15 February 2010

To address the worsening problems of global warming and the urban heat island effect, ecological cities and building environment greening are being promoted in population-dense urban areas domestically and abroad. For example, the Japanese Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport, and Tourism announced the CASBEE-HI (Heat Island) assessment system in 2008 as a response to worsening urban warming and urban heat island effects. The Ministry implemented “Building Space Greening Plans” in Tokyo, Osaka, and other cities, enforcing by law the effective reduction of urban temperatures and improving urban living environments and alleviating the threat of urban ecological disasters. Therefore, this study integrates Taiwan domestic and foreign building space greening design, derived greening benefits, implementation promotion methods, and greening design policies as measurement constructs to examine the mutual influence between different constructs and to analyze the degree of influence on the urban real estate market. From the result, demonstrating that building space environment greening design does bring about positive benefits. In addition, the greening benefit was shown to have a positive impact on the urban real estate market. At the same time, greening promotion implementation method and urban policy standard both had a positive impact on the urban real estate market, demonstrating that government promotion of building environment greening design through urban design policy means is acceptable to the public. Ó 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Sustainable development Global warming Greening design Urban policy Real estate market

1. Introduction The study discussed previously [1] showed that sustainable building has a significant positive influence on housing purchase choices and that when sustainable building enjoys a positive appraisal response, housing purchase choices can be increased, thereby effectively increasing interior and exterior residential environment quality, reducing air conditioning use, properly implementing roofing insulation measures and roof greening and ensuring residential sanitation safety. These effects facilitate housing purchase choices. Raymond [2] also noted that the appraisal results or certification of “sustainable building performance” of overall building environments have gradually come to be viewed as the basis for project development, building award awards, as well as risk and real estate mortgage evaluations. One important message from the United Kingdom, Australia, and EU countries regarding standards for real estate evaluation is that

* Corresponding author. Tel.: þ886 7 6158000x3510; fax: þ886 7 6158000x3599. E-mail addresses: [email protected] (K.-F. Chang), [email protected] (P.-C. Chou). 0360-1323/$ e see front matter Ó 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.buildenv.2010.02.013

they should be closely combined with currently implemented sustainable building assessment tools. This issue has become an internationally important one in real estate markets and in market transformation [3]. To address the worsening problems of global warming and the urban heat island effect, ecological cities and building environment greening are being promoted in population-dense urban areas domestically and abroad. For example, the Japanese Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport, and Tourism announced the CASBEE-HI (Heat Island) [4] assessment system in 2008 as a response to worsening urban warming and urban heat island effects. The Ministry implemented “Building Space Greening Plans” in Tokyo, Osaka, and other cities, enforcing by law the effective reduction of urban temperatures and improving urban living environments and alleviating the threat of urban ecological disasters. The United States has formally incorporated rooftop greening into LEED assessment criteria. Relevant studies have demonstrated that appropriately increasing urban greening or reducing the proportion of artificial structures facilitates the alleviation of the urban heat island effect [5,6,7]. Studies have also demonstrated that plant greening provides the benefit of alleviating urban warming and the urban heat effect [8], providing

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tangible aid in reducing energy consumption as well as improving optimal energy use; such greening constitutes the optimal implementation in pursuing a sustainable ecological living environment [9,10]. In addition, “greening approaches” are the most inexpensive method of reducing temperatures [11]. The greening benefits resulting from space greening of building rooftops, walls, and bases can not only improve overall urban environmental quality, it can also improve the added value of buildings, e.g. increasing asset value, improving image and reputation, and increasing market competitive ability [3,12,13]. In the rapid increase of high-rise buildings in Taiwan, the development behaviors of builders favor the maximum usage benefits of bases; their contributions to environmental greening have been limited to minimum legal standards. Furthermore, the “Green Building Standard Promotion and Usage Operating Points” announced by the Building Research Institute of the Ministry of the Interior does not legally enforce the incorporation of privately-constructed buildings into the range of evaluation. Other relevant greening regulations and policies lack detailed specifications for the greening of the rooftops, walls, and base areas of building environment spaces. Because Taiwan's building green design and urban real estaterelated research are few, but this research hopes to obtain views on this topic of the general public, also worried that the general public do not to understand questionnaire question, therefore this text is to investigate the respondents with the basic specialized background of building, real estate, urban plan, and so on, then, the investigation object is not to emphasize specially the years of experience in green buildings. Therefore, the following objectives have been set for this study: 1. To integrate Taiwan domestic and foreign building space greening design, derived greening benefits, implementation promotion methods, and greening design policies as measurement constructs to analyze the mutual influence between different constructs. 2. To examine the influence of the building greening construct on urban real estate markets.

3. To determine the key variables/dimensions of urban real estate markets which are affected by the building greening construct, and provide domestic real estate-related industries and domestic cities with a reference for urban greening laws and policy promotion. 2. Literature examination It can be seen from the studies discussed above that building space environment greening is an important component of sustainable building evaluations. Therefore, this paper organizes literature on greening-related evaluation content and Taiwan domestic and foreign greening standards and urban design for the benefit of sustainable building environment performance evaluation tools; this paper attempts to clarify the benefits produced by building space environment greening and its impact on the urban real estate market. 2.1. The impact of sustainable building and building space environment greening on the real estate market As the climate experiences abnormal changes, international primary evaluation systems have also gradually begun to emphasize overall environmental climate regulation, creation of natural ecological environments, and the development of regional and urban evaluation tools. The warming caused by rapid development of large urban areas has led many countries to become aware of the importance and urgency of the greening of urban spaces, leading many countries to actively promote building greening policies. Western countries were the first to begin developing and implementing greening. According to American and British studies, the asset value of a building can increase by 6e15% if it is covered by trees [13]; such green rooftop buildings as well as the social and environmental benefits they confer are greatly supported by the public [14]. Three-dimensional greening methods can also be used to alleviate the abnormal expansion and contraction caused by climate change, thereby reducing the need for roof repairs and roof replacements [13]; the implementation of rooftop greening can extend roof lifespans by approximately 20 years [15].

Table 1 Conmecting with building environmental green criteria of the main international assessment tools. Assessment tool

Developer

Conmecting with building environmental green criteria

SBTool 2008 (Sustainable Building Assessment Tool)

iiSBE

 Urban Design and Site Development  Greenhouse Gas Emissions (Annual GHG emissions from all energy used for facility operations)  Other Atmospheric Emissions (Emissions of ozone-depleting substances during facility operations, Emissions of acidifying emissions during facility operations, Emissions leading to photooxidants during facility operations)

LEED-NC 2009 2nd 2008 (Leadership in Energy and Environment Design for New Construction)

U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC)

 Sustainable sites (Development Density, Development Footprint, Landscape & Exterior Design to Reduce Heat Islands)

LEED-EB 2009 (LEED for Existing Buildings: Operations & Maintenance)

U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC)

 Sustainable sites (High Development Density Building & Area, Heat Island Reduction)

CASBEE-NC 2008 (Comprehensive Assessment System for Building Environmental Efficiency for New Construction)

Housing Bureau, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT)/Japan GreenBuild Council (JaGBC)/Japan Sustainable Building Consortium (JSBC)

 Preservation & Creation of Biotope Townscape & Landscape, Improvement of the Thermal Environment on Site  Consideration of Global Warming, Consideration of Local Environment (Heat Island Effect)

CASBEE-EB 2006 (CASBEE for Existing Building)

Housing Bureau, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT)/Japan GreenBuild Council (JaGBC)/Japan Sustainable Building Consortium (JSBC)

 Consideration of Global Warming, Consideration of Local Environment (Heat Island Effect)

EEWH 2007 (Ecology, Energy Saving, Waste Reduction, Health)

Architecture & Building Research Institute, Ministry of the Interior, Taiwan

 Biodiversity; Greenery; Soil Water Content; Energy conservation; CO2 Emission; Waste Reduction; Indoor Environment; Water Resource; Sewer and Garbage

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Table 2 Connecting with urban environmental green criteria of the main international assessment tools. Assessment tool

Developer

Conmecting with building environmental green criteria

LEED-ND 2009 (Leadership in Energy and Environment Design for Neighborhood Development Rating System)

U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC)

 Smart location & linkage (smart location, Site Design for Habitat or Wetland Conservation)  Neighborhood pattern & design (walkable streets)  Green construction & technology (heat island reduction)

CASBEE-UD 2007 (Comprehensive Assessment System for Building Environmental Efficiency for Urban Development)

Housing Bureau, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT)/Japan GreenBuild Council (JaGBC)/Japan Sustainable Building Consortium (JSBC)

 Natural Environment (microclimates and ecosystems, consideration and conservation of microclimates in pedestrian space in summer)  Contribution to the local community (history, culture, scenery and revitalization)  Management of the local environment (Consideration of global warming, Environmentally responsible construction management)

CASBEE-HI 2006 (CASBEE for Heat Island)

Housing Bureau, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT)/Japan GreenBuild Council (JaGBC)/Japan Sustainable Building Consortium (JSBC)

 Ventilation System (open area, footpath afforestation)  Shading (raise trees form natural environment shadow, falls low heat environment)  Paving material (remain the site green space, water evapotranspiration surface area to restrain surface warming up)  Appearance material (heat insulation material and aforestation of the façade, roof)

Asian countries that have implemented three-dimensional greening policies include Japan, Singapore, and Hong Kong. A Singaporean study on rooftop greening has suggested that rooftop greening improves the visual aesthetics of buildings and increases their asset value as well [16]. An application report from the Hong Kong Building Services Department has also suggested that many countries have relevant three-dimensional greening evaluation plans intended to encourage the construction of environmentally-beneficial buildings. Buildings with rooftop greening enjoy additional evaluation points and are also demonstrated to be environmentally-beneficial, therefore increasing their asset value [17].

In summary, though the studies on the impact of sustainable building and building space greening on the market described above have not clearly shown the degree of influence of threedimensional greening or produced clear quantitative data of added value, the studies have clearly demonstrated that the implementation and promotion of three-dimensional greening bring about social and environmental benefits and have a positive impact on the market value of buildings with rooftop greening. In addition, foreign evaluations of sustainable building have begun to be included in bank risk assessment systems. It is apparent that the impact of building greening on the market will increase in the future.

Table 3 Relevant implementation greening rule and policy of the primary Asian cities. City

Country

Act/Regulation/Standard/Guidelines

Greening policy/plan

Taipei

Taiwan

   

Building Technology Regulation (2004) Building Site Greenery Design Technology Standard (2008) Taipei City Urban Design Review Principle (1982) Taipei City Building Site& the Legal Vacant Lot Greening Design Implementation Inspection Guidelines (1994)

 Green Building Project (Evaluation manual for green building in Taiwan/EEWH evaluation system) (2007)  Eco-City Green Building Project (2008)  Taiwan Agenda 21 (2004)

Kaohsiung

Taiwan

   

Building Technology Regulation (2004) Building Site Greenery Design Technology Standard (2008) Kaohsiung City Urban Design Review Principle (2000) Kaohsiung City Building Site Greening Implementation Inspection Guidelines (2002)

 Green Building Project (Evaluation manual for green building in Taiwan/EEWH evaluation system) (2007)  Eco-City Green Building Project (2008)  Taiwan Agenda 21 (2004)

Tokyo

Japan

 Tokyo Natural Environmental Protection Act (2000)  Tokyo Environmental Protection Act (2000)

     

Kyoto

Japan

 Kyoto Prefecture's Ordinances to Prevent Global Warming

 Kyoto green plan guidance book  Building greening promotion system (outline)  CASBEE-UD, CASBEE-HI, CASBEE-NC

Osaka

Japan

 Osaka Natural Environmental Protection Act (1994)  Osaka Prefecture'S Ordinances To Regarding Prevent Global Warming (2005)  Osaka City Outbuilding Greening Guidance (2002)

 Osaka prefecture's building environmental consideration technical guidance (2006)  Osaka prefecture's green plan manual (2006)  Osaka city roof greening guideline (outline) (1992)  Osaka city flower and green street construction promotion (2008)  CASBEE-UD, CASBEE-HI, CASBEE-NC

Wall greening guideline (2006) Tokyo Metropolitan Environmental Master Plan (2008) Tokyo green plan guidance (2008) Tokyo building green plan guidance (2005) Heat island measure guideline (2005) CASBEE-UD, CASBEE-HI, CASBEE-NC

 Handbook on skyrise greening in Singapore (2002)

Singapore

Singapore

Shanghai

China

 Shanghai city Greening Act (2008)  Shanghai city roof greening Technology standard (Draft) (2008)

Hong Kong

China

e

 Study on Green Roof Application in Hong Kong (2007)

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urban microclimate, ecologies, and building space environment greening.

H1 ( ) Building environment greening design

H7 (relevance)

Greening benefit

H2 ( )

Greening promotion implementation method

H4 ( )

H5 ( )

Urban Real Estate Market

H3 ( )

Urban greening design policy

H6 ( )

Fig. 1. A proposed conceptual model.

2.2. Primary international assessment tools and literature on building and urban environment as well as greening-related evaluation Since 1990, evaluation tools have developed, in keeping with increased attention to environmental issues, from the early “green performance” evaluation perspective to considerations of “holistic building environment performance.” The latter term refers to the fact that a single building has a great impact on the planning and design as well as maintenance operations of community facilities [2]. The Global Sustainable Building Conference of 2008 was held in Melbourne. This study has compiled the important assessment tools presented at the conference, including SBTool [18], the American LEED [19e22], the Japanese CASBEE [4,23e25], and the Taiwanese nine-indicators EEWH [26]. Evaluation criteria as well as urban, building environment, greening, and related items were examined in the conference (Tables 1 and 2). Of these evaluation tools, the Japanese-developed CASBEE evaluation method incorporates different evaluation systems based on different scale needs and building types; these evaluation systems are divided into the residential building scale, the building scale, the urban streets scale, and the urban scale. In response to global warming and the urban heat island effect, the CASBEE-NC, CASBEE-UD, CASBEE-UAþB, and CASBEE-HI evaluation systems have incorporated “global warming” as an assessment criterion, demonstrating the emphasis placed on environmental climate change by Japan as well as the greater emphasis placed on the evaluation criteria of

2.3. Current development of urban greening policies Sustainable building evaluation tools are primarily used for the main bodies of buildings [27e29]. However, population-dense urban areas include buildings of different types, impermeable pavement, cement ground, and other artificial structures in addition to frequent human activity, causing entire cities to become heat-emitting islands. Consequently, with “cities” as a core consideration, many countries have augmented implementation of sustainable building evaluation tools with promotion of many relevant greening policies and statutes in hopes of effectively combining “building” with “cities” to effectively reduce climate warming in urban environments and thereby protect the quality of life and ecological environments in cities. Many cities have adopted greening of building facades as a means of effectively increasing urban greening. According to Tokyo city government statistics [30] (Tokyo Environment 2008, p. 62), as of March 2008, 89 hectares of rooftop greening had been approved, which constitutes a more effective greening policy than the previous method of increasing urban public park green area. Countries that have currently implemented related building three-dimensional greening include, aside from Western countries, the Asian countries of Singapore [16] and Japan [4,23e25,30e46]; mainland China has also established relevant rooftop greening technology standards and policies in Shanghai [47,48] and Hong Kong [17] in recent years (Table 3) [26,49e56]. 3. Methodology 3.1. Research framework and hypotheses The aim of this paper is to examine the impact of building space environment greening on the urban real estate market. The research framework of this paper (Fig. 1) was established based on the literature analysis described above; seven relevant hypotheses

Table 4 Definition of constructs and variables. Constructs

Dimensions

Related literatures

Building environment greening design

1. 2. 3. 4.

 Taiwan Building Site Greenery Design Technology Standard  Taiwan EEWH evaluation system  CASBEE-NC  Tokyo green plan guidance  Kyoto green plan guidance book

    

Osaka prefecture's green plan manual Osaka city roof greening guideline (outline) Handbook on Skyrise Greening in Singapore Study on Green Roof Application in Hong Kong Shanghai city roof greening Technology standard (Draft)

Greening benefit

1. Urban microclimate environment 2. Urban disaster prevention and security 3. Urban environment quality 4. Economic benefits 5. Harmony with human health and wellness

    

Taiwan EEWH evaluation CASBEE-UD CASBEE-HI CASBEE-NC Tokyo green plan guidance

   

Kyoto green plan guidance book Handbook on Skyrise Greening in Singapore Study on Green Roof Application in Hong Kong Shanghai city roof greening Technology standard (Draft)

Greening promotion implementation method

1. Compulsory 2. Non-compulsory

   

Tokyo green plan guidance Kyoto green plan guidance book Osaka prefecture's green plan manual Osaka city roof greening guideline (outline)

 Handbook on Skyrise Greening in Singapore  Study on Green Roof Application in Hong Kong  Shanghai city roof greening Technology standard (Draft)

Greening position Greening area Planting allocation Maintenance management

Urban greening design 1. Building policy 2. Urban design 3. Urban planning

 2008 CASBEE-NC  2006 CASBEE-HI

 Osaka city roof greening guideline (outline)  Study on Green Roof Application in Hong Kong

Urban Real Estate Market

   

 Peck & Associates (1999)  Knepper (2000)  Handbook on Skyrise Greening in Singapore

1. Building cost 2. Investment benefit 3. Marketability

Chang (2007) Fang (2005) Shuzo Murakami (2008) Thomas L. and David (2007)

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Related literatures Murakami (2008) Knepper(2000) Thomas (2007); Thomas (2006) Peck & Associates (1999) Chang (2007) Fang (2005) Technology standard for site Greenery design(2008)(Taiwan) Building Site Greening Implementation Inspection Guidelines. (Taipei& Kaohsiung) Taiwan EEWH evaluation system(2007) Tokyo green plan guidance Kyoto green plan guidance book Osaka prefecture’s green plan manual Osaka city roof greening guideline NParks and CTBP (2002)( Singapore) Technology standard for roof greening design Architectural Services Department (2007) (Hong Kong) CASBEE-UD, CASBEE-HI,CASBEE-NC Shanghai city roof greening Technology standard (Draft).

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Dimensions

Constructs Building environment greening design

Greening benefit

Greening position (4), Greening area (4), Planting allocation (4), Maintenance management (4) Urban microclimate environment (4), Urban disaster prevention &security (2), Urban environment quality (3), Economic benefits (3), Harmony with human health & wellness (4)

Greening promotion implementation method

Compulsory (4), Non-compulsory (4)

Urban greening

Building (3), Urban design (3), Urban planning (3)

Urban Real Estate

Building cost (2), Investment benefit (4), Marketability (3)

Fig. 2. The questionnaire structure.

are to be empirically confirmed. The research hypotheses of this paper are described below. 3.1.1. The impact of building space environment greening design and greening promotion implementation methods on greening benefits and urban greening design policy According to Taiwan domestic research [6,9,11], appropriately increasing urban greening or reducing surface impermeability and the artificial structure ratio facilitates the alleviation of the urban heat island effect. Studies have also found that planting greening has the effect of alleviating urban warming. Three-dimensional or comprehensive methods of greening can efficiently reduce the heat load on environments; greening methods constitute the lowestcost method of reducing temperatures. Research related to threedimensional greening in Japan, Singapore [16], and Hong Kong [17] shows that three-dimensional greening can improve overall urban environments, promote physical and mental well-being,

bring economic benefits to buildings, and reduce global warming. Aside from adopting compulsory implementation, Japan has also incorporated planting greening and three-dimensional greening into the CASBEE evaluation system. Singapore, on the other hand, combined greening and environmental construction early on in its development as a primary goal for national development. Although Taiwan has not yet independently established greening-related standards, regulations related to urban design, building technology regulations, building base greening design standards, and green building are incorporated in the EEWH system. However, these regulations are not compulsory standards. Consequently, this study presents Hypotheses 1, 2, 3, 4, and 7 as described below. With regard to Hypothesis 7 (H7): relevant literature and research have not directly asserted a clear association between greening implementation promotion method and building space environment greening design, and so this study hypothesizes that these two variables are correlated.

Table 5 The calculation information for Building environment greening design construct. Dimensions

Evaluation items

Greening position (A1)

A11 A12 A13 A14

Greening area (A2)

Planting allocation (A3)

Maintenance management (A4)

Mean

Standard deviation

4.06 4.27 3.64 4.07

0.660 0.577 0.853 0.690

3.57

0.924

3.64 3.77 3.64

0.916 0.833 0.844

A31 Mixed vegetation of the majority of trees and the small partial bushes A32 Greening with perennial trailing on the wall of building A33 Greening with the drought-enduring, the shade-resistant and the least maintenance plants on the balcony of the building A34 Reduction of greening with artificially mown lawn or flowers and grass

3.45 3.02 3.68

0.888 0.998 0.816

3.36

0.974

A41 The plant itself, such as: the irrigation, fertilization, trimming, transplant, prevention of diseases and so on A42 The planting basic condition, such as: soil excavation, changing soil, the drainage layer, the air vent and so on A43 Planting equipment, such as: supply water, irrigation, irrigation, draining water, protection, support and so on A44 Regular overall inspection, such as: once a year

3.89

0.804

3.89

0.833

3.92

0.803

3.89

0.835

Greening Greening Greening Greening

on on on on

the the the the

roof of the building ground of the site façade of the building balcony of the building

A21 Reduction of the planned building coverage to enhance greening area in the maintenance of the specified floor-area ratio A22 Ensuring the overall greening design except the difficult greening space A23 Considering the other space to substitute for difficulty greening project A24 Providing the greening area in the legal vacant lot accounts for above 15% of the building lot

Mean of construct

Cronbach's a of dimensions

0.4010

0.716

3.656

0.794

3.377

0.698

3.900

0.944

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Table 6 The calculation information for Greening benefit construct. Dimensions

Evaluation items

Mean

Standard deviation

Urban microclimate environment (B1)

B11 B12 B13 B14

4.19 4.14 3.94 3.87

0.568 0.592 0.697 0.757

Urban disaster prevention and security (B2)

B21 Prevention of soil erosion B22 Reduction of fire spread

3.68 3.53

0.899 0.894

Urban environment quality (B3)

B31 Ensuring good air quality B32 Creating an amenity leisure and open space B33 Promoting urban scenery

4.12 4.13 4.21

0.621 0.610 0.574

B41 Building insulation and energy efficiency B42 Insulating the materials from ultraviolet light and reducing the thermal extremes to prolong roof life B43 Drawing attention to environmental credentials and contributing to increased property value

4.06 3.68

0.681 0.835

4.02

0.684

B51 B52 B53 B54

3.81 3.61 3.54 3.64

0.823 0.948 0.935 0.906

Building economic benefits (B4)

Harmony with human health and wellness (B5)

Effective mitigation of urban microclimates Effective mitigation of urban heat island effect Providing a suitable habitat for flora and fauna Improving rainwater retention and soil water content

Promoting Natural Therapeutic Value and enhance human health Creating a Environment of education and study environment Promoting community human relationship and identity to the community Promotion of leisure and recreation activity

Hypothesis 1 (H1). Building space environment greening design has a significant positive impact on greening benefit. Hypothesis 2 (H2). Building space environment greening design has a significant positive impact on urban greening design policy. Hypothesis 3 (H3). Greening benefit has a significant positive impact on urban greening design policy. Hypothesis 4 (H4). Greening promotion implementation method has a significant and positive impact on urban greening design policy. Hypothesis 7 (H7). A correlation exists between building space environment greening design and greening implementation promotion methods. 3.1.2. The impact of greening benefit and urban greening design policy on urban real estate markets A study by Thomas [3] suggests that the economic benefits derived from sustainable building, including low maintenance costs, reduction of vacancy risk, increased cash flow stability, and increased rent growth contribute to increased market values of buildings. Murakami [12] noted that, based on the CASBEE building environment comprehensive performance evaluation system and bank asset evaluations, the difference between sustainable building and non-sustainable building lies in that sustainable building can create environmental value and reduce environmental risk in the market while increasing added value and net income. At the same time, Taiwan domestic research has noted that, for consumers, sustainable building enjoys positive appraisals in terms of residential benefits and purchasing choices, helping to increase consumer home purchasing willingness [1]. Some consumers are willing to pay an additional 1e10% over normal prices to purchase residences with more natural and healthier living environment quality [57]. Building space environment greening is an important component of sustainable building evaluations. Although existing literature has not clearly asserted any impact of three-dimensional greening on urban real estate markets or buildings, several studies have suggested that good tree coverage can increase a building's asset value by 6e15% [13]. A Singaporean research manual on rooftop greening from 2002 indicates that rooftop greening provides environmental benefits, economic benefits, benefits in terms of increased asset value, social

Mean of construct

Cronbach's a of dimensions

4.035

0.783

3.607

0.779

4.154

0.836

3.923

0.774

3.649

0.903

benefits, and aesthetic benefits. A Hong Kong study on rooftop greening applications suggested that planting greening has an impact on maintenance costs due to height, microclimate, soil type, soil depth, irrigation, and plant type. In addition, due to considerations of construction costs and maintenance costs, the government of Osaka in Japan has adopted a greening excellence review system, giving the industry support and recognition to achieve the effect of encouragement and promotion, thereby improving the image and reputation of these buildings. Consequently, this study presents the following hypotheses: Hypothesis 5 (H5). Greening benefit has a significant positive impact on urban real estate market. Hypothesis 6 (H6). Urban greening design policy has a significant positive impact on urban real estate market.

3.2. Research design 3.2.1. Research variables Variables in this study include: building space environment greening design (exogenous variable1), greening promotion implementation method (exogenous variable), greening benefits (mediating variable), urban greening design policy (mediating variable), and urban real estate market (endogenous variable2). Measured constructs and the content of dimensions as well as related literature are shown in Table 4 and are described below:  Building space environment greening design: includes the four measurement dimensions of “greening position,” “greening area,” “planting allocation,” and “maintenance and management.”

1 Exogenous variable: A factor in a causal model or causal system whose value is independent from the states of other variables in the system; a factor whose value is determined by factors or variables outside the causal system under study. 2 Endogenous variable: A factor in a causal model or causal system whose value is determined by the states of other variables in the system; contrasted with an exogenous variable. Some factors are causally influenced by factors within the system but also by factors not included in the model. So a given factor may be partially endogenous and partially exogenousdpartially but not wholly determined by the values of other variables in the model, called a mediated variable.

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Table 7 The calculation information for Urban real estate market construct. Dimensions

Evaluation items (variables)

Mean

Standard deviation

(C1) Compulsory

C11 Greening implementation from statutory the mandate of building itself law, such as: Building technology regulation) C12 Greening implementations from the statutory mandate of the urban design, such as: urban design review principle) C13 Greening implementations from the statutory mandate of the urban planning, such as: urban planning overall review law) C14 Complete supporting measures, such as: greening subsidy, incentive way

3.89

0.738

3.93

0.720

3.78

0.808

4.20

0.687

C21 C22 C23 C24

4.06 3.95 3.79 3.92

0.735 0.736 0.852 0.753

(C2) Non-compulsory

Fund subsidy for construction Reduction of housing tax Low loans for purchasing houses Not counting greening area in planned floor-area or planned building coverage

 Greening promotion implementation method: based on the implementation and promotion methods of Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Shanghai, and integrated with relevant Taiwan urban greening acts or standards, the primary measurement dimensions are divided into “compulsory” and “noncompulsory.”  Greening benefit: includes the five measurement dimensions of “urban microclimate environment,” “urban disaster prevention and security,” “urban environmental quality,” “building economic benefits,” and “harmony with human health and wellness”  Urban greening design policy: many countries have generally adopted independently determined standards to be realized in city policy; Taiwan has yet to establish independent standards for three-dimensional greening. Having taken into consideration methods of promotion and having examined the aspect of regulation promoted in Taiwan domestic urban policy, this study adopted “building policy,” “urban design policy,” and “urban planning policy” as the measurement variables of this construct.  Urban real estate market: as of this writing, studies have yet to directly and clearly suggest any type of impact of greening on real estate markets in urban areas. However, as greening is an important component of sustainable building evaluations, this study adopts the variables of “building cost,” “investment benefit,” and “marketability” as the measurement dimensions in consideration of the impact of sustainable building on real estate markets as well as the benefits derived from threedimensional greening.

3.2.2. Survey design This study utilizes the Likert 5-point measurement scale for the survey (Fig. 2), incorporating the five grades of “strongly agree,” “agree,” “neutral,” “disagree,” and “strongly disagree.” In

Mean of dimensions

Cronbach's a of dimensions

3.951

0.789

3.930

0.741

accordance with the suggestion of Parasuraman et al. [58], survey questions are described positively. Primary subjects for investigation were personnel involved in building, real estate, landscape design, and construction, as well as the general public. 4. Empirical analysis 4.1. Survey retrieval The survey was distributed from February 1, 2009 to August 30, 2009. Of a total of 300 surveys distributed, 254 surveys were retrieved for a retrieval rate of 84.66%; after subtracting invalid questionnaires, a total of 238 effective surveys were retrieved for an effective retrieval rate of 79.33%, inclusive of 137 industrial circles (57.6%), 25 government (10.5%), 25 academia & professors (10.5%) and 51 others (housewives, retirees, students and.) (21.4%). In the “professional specialty field” variable, respondents with a “real estate” professional background constituted the largest share (29.0%), followed by “building” (26.1%) and “land/ city” (18.1%). Taken as a whole, the professional specialty backgrounds of respondents were relatively evenly distributed. Consequently, the overall survey sample structure distribution results met the range and purposes envisioned for this study. 4.2. Descriptive statistics Cronbach's a value was used to measure the consistency of different questions under the same dimension. A Cronbach's a value above 0.7 was used as a standard; a value lower than 0.7 suggests questionable reliability and possibility for rejection [59,60]. Of the various measurement dimensions, the a coefficients for “planting allocation (A3)” and “building policy (D1)” were relatively low at 0.692 and 0.694, respectively; a coefficient values were greater than 0.7 for all other dimensions. Values for overall constructs were also greater than 0.7; the a coefficient values for

Table 8 The calculation information for Urban greening design policy construct. Dimensions

Evaluation items (variables)

Mean

Standard deviation

Mean of dimensions

Cronbach's a of dimensions

(D1) Building

D11 Incorporation into Taiwan EEWH assessment system D12 Incorporation into Taiwan building technology regulation D13 Establishing independent law or standard of building code level

3.94 3.87 3.67

0.656 0.717 0.829

3.824

0.691

D21 Incorporation into urban design principle for the whole city D22 Incorporation into urban design principle for the designated district of the city D23 Establishing independent law or standard of urban design principle level

3.81 3.83 3.68

0.618 0.609 0.761

3.775

0.836

D31 Incorporation into urban planning law D31 Incorporation into urban renewal law D33 Establishing independent law or standard of urban planning law level

3.74 3.76 3.65

0.763 0.779 0.807

3.714

0.913

(D2) Urban design

(D3) Urban planning

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Table 9 The calculation information for Urban real estate market construct. Dimensions

Evaluation items (variables)

Mean

Standard deviation

Mean of dimensions

Cronbach's a of dimensions

(E1) Building cost

E11 Increasing in construction cost E12 Increasing in maintenance management cost

3.95 4.10

0.786 0.674

4.023

0.853

(E2) Investment benefit

E21 E22 E23 E24

3.70 3.13 3.53 3.29

0.954 0.987 0.953 1.000

3.414

0.857

3.63 3.89 3.67

0.963 0.819 0.934

3.728

0.869

(E3) Marketability

Increasing in sale prices Better financing condition Increasing in the property value Increasing in the rent

E31 Promoting residence the inhabitant's will E32 Improving building image E33 Increasing market competitive advantage

the constructs of “greening benefit” and “urban greening design policy” were as high as 0.9. Consequently, the measured validity for this study was concluded to be good, representing that the survey of this study enjoyed fairly high consistency and stability. 4.2.1. Building space environment greening design (A) The analysis results in Table 5 demonstrate: in the measurement dimension of greening location (A1), the average value for “A12 e Greening on the ground of the site” was 4.27, demonstrating that respondents had a very high degree of agreement for the incorporation of the “the ground” into building space greening implementation locations. Respondents had a lower degree of agreement for “A13 e the façade” greening; standard deviation was also fairly high, suggesting relatively large variations in responses. In the “Greening area (A2)” dimension, “A23 e Considering the other space to substitute for difficulty greening project” was generally agreed with, as shown by a mean value of 3.77. Speaking overall, standard deviation was fairly high (at least 0.8) for the questions of greening area (A2), planting allocation (A3) and maintenance management (A4), showing that there were relatively large variations in responses and demonstrating low consistency among respondents. 4.2.2. Greening benefit (B) In the dimension of urban microclimate environment (B1), “B11 e Effective mitigation of urban microclimates” and “B12 e Effective mitigation of urban heat island effect” enjoyed relatively high degrees of agreement with mean values of above 4, demonstrating that respondents have constructs of and agree with the overall environmental benefits derived from greening; this attitude will facilitate future implementation of greening policy. In the dimensions of Urban disaster prevention and security (B2) and Harmony with human health and wellness (B5), the mean values for all questions and dimensions were lower than 4, demonstrating that respondents had low degrees of agreement for the notion that greening can improve urban safety and disaster prevention as well as the notion that greening can promote mental and physical health; it is evident that instruction and education in this area needs to be strengthened (Table 6). 4.2.3. Greening promotion implementation method (C) In this dimension, only “C14 e Complete supporting measures” and “C21 e Fund subsidy for construction” had mean values that exceeded 4. Mean values for other questions in this dimension did not reach 4 and standard deviations were obviously higher, demonstrating that respondents had low degrees of agreement and were also inconsistent in their responses (Table 7). Overall, respondents felt that complete supporting measures are necessary if “compulsory” implementation of building space greening is adopted. If a “non-compulsory” implementation method is adopted, respondents lean towards agreement for financial subsidies, followed by tax breaks and excluded legal building area or floor-area.

4.2.4. Urban greening design policy (D) All questions in this dimension had mean values less than 4, showing that respondents did not have significant degrees of agreement for this construct. However, in dimension D1 (Table 8), “D11 e Incorporation into Taiwan EEWH assessment system” enjoyed greater agreement, with a mean value of 3.94 and relatively low standard deviation, demonstrating consistency of agreement among respondents. Speaking overall, it can be seen from analysis results that respondents tended to agree that urban greening design policy (D) should begin with taking into consideration “building policy (D1)”. 4.2.5. Impact on urban real estate market (E) In the measurement dimension of building cost (E1), respondents tended to agree that buildings with greening design suffered from higher maintenance management costs. In addition, the investment benefit (E2) dimension had a lower degree of agreement compared to other dimensions; it also had a higher standard deviation, showing that respondents had a low degree of consistency in attitudes. These results demonstrate that future promotion of building space greening design should emphasize the market benefits derived from greening. Taken as a whole, the mean values of the questions in this construct were greater than 3, therefore reaching measurable agreement (Table 9). 4.3. Path analysis Path analysis is used to examine the causal relationships between observed variables and to posit causal conclusions. Based on the seven hypotheses proposed by this study, “greening benefit” and “urban greening design policy” were used as mediating variables to verify the causal relationship between “building space greening design” and “urban real estate market.” According to path analysis, the three variables of “greening benefit,” “urban greening design policy,” and “urban real estate market” can be effectively explained. The explained variance for each of the variables is: 0.286 (F ¼ 47.069, p ¼ 0.000) for the urban real

Fig. 3. A final model.

K.-F. Chang, P.-C. Chou / Building and Environment 45 (2010) 2057e2067

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Table 10 Correlation matrix. Constructs

(A)

(B)

(C)

(D)

(E)

(A) Building environment greening design (B) Greening benefit (C) Greening promotion implementation method (D) Urban greening design policy (E) Urban Real Estate Market Mean Cronbach's a

1 0.669**(0.000) 0.308**(0.000) 0.546**(0.000) 0.438**(0.000) 3.736 0.891

1 0.348**(0.000) 0.529**(0.000) 0.498**(0.000) 3.874 0.909

1 0.511**(0.000) 0.198**(0.000) 3.940 0.790

1 0.429**(0.000) 3.771 0.903

1 3.722 0.814

*p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001.

estate market, 0.448(F ¼ 191.521, p ¼ 0.000) for the greening benefit and 0.451(F ¼ 64.009, p ¼ 0.000) for urban greening design policy. Greening benefit and urban greening design policy act as mediating variables. Building space environment greening design and greening promotion implementation methods can each have an impact on urban real estate market through these mediating variables. Estimation results for the overall model are as shown in Fig. 3. 4.3.1. The impact of building space environment greening design and greening promotion implementation methods on greening benefits and urban greening design policy Based on the results of variable effect analysis, the exogenous variable “building space greening design” has a direct effect on both greening benefits and urban greening design policy; beta coefficients were 0.669 and 0.301, respectively. Both direct effects and indirect effects have 0.01 level of significance; these results also show that “building space greening design” has a significant positive impact on greening benefits and urban greening design policy. Consequently, Hypothesis H1 and Hypothesis H2 are confirmed. Another exogenous variable, “greening promotion implementation methods” had a direct effect on urban greening design policy (beta ¼ 0.347, p ¼ 0.000). These results demonstrate the validity of Hypothesis H4 and also show that “greening promotion implementation methods” has a significant positive impact on urban greening design policy. 4.3.2. The impact of greening benefit and urban greening design policy on urban real estate markets The endogenous variable “greening benefit” had a direct effect on both urban greening design policy and urban real estate market, with beta coefficients of 0.206 and 0.377, respectively; the 0.01 level of significance was reached in both cases. These results confirm the validity of Hypothesis H3 and Hypothesis H5 in this study. The second endogenous variable, “urban greening design policy,” had an indirect effect on urban real estate markets, beta ¼ 0.229, p ¼ 0.000. These results exhibit a lower strength of impact compared to the 0.377 direct effect of “greening benefits,” but remain significant. These results show that the implementation Table 11 The results of regression analysis for endogenous variables of the urban real estate market construct and other constructs. Standardized estimate (Beta value)

Dependent variable(s) (Endogenous variables of Urban Real Estate Market)

Independent variable(s)

Building cost (E1)

Investment benefit (E2)

Marketability (E3)

(A) Building environment greening design (C) Greening promotion implementation method (B) Greening benefit (D) Urban greening design policy

0.195*

0.191**

0.200**

e

e

e

e e

0.262*** 0.256***

0.396*** e

*p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001.

of urban greening design policy has a positive impact on urban real estate markets, establishing Hypothesis H6 as true. In addition, that “building space environment greening design” and “greening promotion implementation method” are correlated based on the correlation analysis above (Table 10), the level of significance of 0.01 was reached between all variables; the correlation coefficient between these two exogenous variables was 0.308. Consequently, Hypothesis H7 was verified. 4.4. Regression analysis This study also utilized stepwise regression analysis (Table 11), finding that Construct A had a statistically significant negative impact on the “Construction Costs (E1)” construct, with a beta coefficient of 0.195; Construct A also had significant positive impacts on “Investment Benefits (E2)” and “Marketing (E3),” with beta coefficients of 0.191 and 0.200, respectively. These results are consistent with related domestic and foreign studies in that green design will increase building construction or maintenance costs but will also increase the asset values of the buildings themselves and will also increase residential willingness and improve building image and reputation. In addition, the impacts of variables B, C, and D on the real estate measurement construct of “Building Costs (E1)” did not reach statistical significance, but did have significant positive impacts on “Investment Benefits (E2)” (beta ¼ 0.363, p ¼ 0.000) and “Marketability (E3)” (beta ¼ 0.456, p ¼ 0.000). “Greening Benefits (B)” had the greatest impact on “Investment Benefits (E2)” (beta ¼ 0.363, p ¼ 0.000) and “Marketability (E3)” (beta ¼ 0.456, p ¼ 0.000), respectively. 5. Conclusions The purpose of this paper was to examine whether greening plans and promotion implementation methods produced an impact on the economic benefits of urban real estate development through greening benefits and greening policy. The following conclusions were reached: 1. Empirical analysis in this study discovered that “Building space environment greening design” was negatively associated with “building costs.” This result suggests that when green building design is promoted in Taiwan in the future, “Greening position,” “Greening area,” “Planting allocation,” and “maintenance and management” of buildings should be first regulated based on greening design constructs (endogenous variables). In particular, the most recognized greening implementation locations such as ground levels, roof levels, and balconies should be used as the basis for building construction and maintenance costs. 2. Also, “Building space environment greening design” exhibited significant positive association with “Investment benefits” and “Marketability.” In particular, this variable had the greatest impact on “Marketability.” These results suggest that when developers

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promote architecturally green residence products, they should incorporate “Improvements in building image” and “Increases in market competitiveness” into marketing considerations. 3. The research hypotheses introduced in this study were supported by empirical testing and were demonstrated to indicate significant positive impacts, showing that green architectural space environment design do have positive benefits, consistent with our review of literature. Greening benefits exhibit a positive significant impact on urban real estate markets, a result consistent with the results of related domestic and foreign studies. At the same time, greening promotion implementation methods and urban policy regulations also had positive impacts on urban real estate markets, showing that governments can consider “Building greening regulations” in promoting green building and environment design or in “Urban design policies.” For example, governments can independently establish legal regulations and strengthen the quality of life benefits brought by greening, such as effective microclimate environment adjustments, creation of good leisure spaces and scenery, and improvements to air quality. Acknowledgement The authors would like to thank the financial supports provided by the National Science Council in Taiwan ROC (NSC 98-2410-H251-002 and NSC 97-2410-H-251-002), and the survey analysis assistance by Shu-Chuan Li and Dr. Chun-Chang Lee. References [1] Chang KF. The influence of the residential benefit of sustainable building on house-purchase choice. Journal of Housing Studies 2008;17(1):51e70 [in Chinese]. [2] Raymond JC. Building environmental assessment methods: redefining intentions and roles. Building Research & Information 2005;35(5):230e46. [3] Thomas L, David L. Integrating sustainability into property risk assessments for market transformation. Building Research & Information 2007;35(6):644e61. [4] Japan GreenBuild Council & Japan Sustainable Building Consortium. CASBEE for heat island (CASBEE-HI). Japan: JaGBC & JSBC. Available from: http:// www.ibec.or.jp/CASBEE/index.htm/; 2006. [5] Lin HT, Lu KM, Sun CY. Application of satellite remote sensing and image classification techniques for estimating the percentage of or impervious surface area in urban areas e A Tainan city case study. City and Planning 2008;35(2):123e39 [in Chinese]. [6] Sun CY, Lin HT. Annual variation of urban heat island intensity in the Tainan region. City and Planning 2006;33(1):51e68 [in Chinese]. [7] Murakami S. Comprehensive assessment system for building environmental efficiency on heat island relaxation. Department of Architecture & Building Science Tohoku University; 2006. [8] Kenneth Ip, Marta Lam, Andrew Mille. Shading performance of a vertical deciduous climbing plant canopy. Building and Environment 2010;45(2):81e8. [9] Hsu CC. A research on the urban environmental greenery and permeable efficiency to effect of the micro climate e A case study of Hualien city. Taiwan: National Dong Hwa University; 2003 [in Chinese]. [10] Wong NH, Jusuf Steve Kardinal, La Win Aung Aung, Thu Htun Kyaw, Negara To Syatia, Wu Xuchao. Environmental study of the impact of greenery in an institutional campus in the tropics. Building and Environment 2007;42:2949e70. [11] Wu CM. A study on the influence of parks on heat environment of blocks. Taiwan: Graduate Institute of Architecture and Urban Design, Chaoyang University of Technology; 2007 [in Chinese]. [12] Murakami S. Market transformation brought about by the necessity for reducing environmental risks e CASBEE application to property appraisal for promoting low carbonization. World SB08 Melbourne conference. Austrian: Melbourne; 2008. [13] Peck SW, Callaghan C, Kuhn ME, Bass B. Greenbacks from green roofs: forging a new industry in Canada, Canadian mortgage and housing corporation research report; 1999. [14] Knepper Claire A. Gardens in sky. Journal of Property Management 2000;65 (2):36e40. [15] Velazquez LS. Greenroofs.com. Available from: http://www.greenroofs.com/; 1999. [16] NParks and CTBP. Handbook on skyrise greening in Singapore. Available from: http://www.nparks.gov.sg/cms/; 2002. [17] Architectural Services Department. Study on green roof application in Hong Kong_ Final report. HONG KONG: URBIS LIMITED; 2007. [18] iiSBE. SBTool. Available from: http://www.iisbe.org/iisbe/sbc2k8/sbc2k8download_f.htm/; 2008.

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