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Dataset acquired for the study published in the article: “Volatile organic compounds removal by means of a felt-based living wall to improve indoor air quality”. This is part of the project “Fytorremediation of air and water by means of living walls” financed by the Andalusian Plan of Research, development and innovation 2020 (grant number P18-TP-1657) in the 2018 call for Research projects for universities and qualified public research entities as agents of the Andalusian Knowledge System (Junta de Andalucía, Spain). As vegetation can act as a biofilter capturing air pollutants, this study aims to assess the effectiveness of a living wall module in the removal of the Total Volatile Organic Compounds (TVOCs) for IAQ improvement. An airtight glass chamber was used to release contaminants, monitoring the TVOCs both with the chamber empty (control) and with a small Fytotextile® living wall module planted with Nephrolepis exaltata L. A substantial reduction of TVOCs was observed when the living wall was inside the chamber. In few hours, TVOCs levels were reduced below the recommended limit (following Spanish regulations).

Dataset acquired for the study published in the article: “Improving the performance of felt-based living wall systems in terms of irrigation management”. This work aims to improve an existing commercial system (Fytotextile) in order to optimise water retention and vegetation performance in harsh climate conditions. Therefore, three evolutions of the Fytotextile system were tested in terms of water retention capacity, drainage and vegetation performance.

Dataset acquired for the study published in the article: “Water consumption of felt-based outdoor living walls in warm climates”. This study aims to quantify the water consumption of commercial outdoor felt-based living walls installed in four different Spanish cities, assessing the influencing variables (i.e., location, size, exposition, recirculation). To do so, 16 living walls were monitored during 1–4 years to compute the volume of water used to irrigate them during the year.

Dataset acquired for the study published in the article: “Particularities of having plants at home during the confinement due to the COVID-19 pandemic”. This study evaluated the role of having plants at home during the confinement period as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic that deprived people of freely visiting open green spaces. Preferences concerning the quantity of the desired vegetation as well as the ways in which the COVID-19 crisis affected the change of perceptions with regard to having plants at home were also evaluated. The dataset presents the responses to a questionnaire filled by 4205 participants, which provided an evaluation of the impact of indoor and outdoor plants on their emotional welfare considering behavioural, social, and demographic variables.

Dataset acquired for the study published in the article: “Suitability and optimization of FAO's small-scale aquaponics systems for joint production of lettuce (Lactuca sativa) and fish (Carassius auratus)”. This study evaluated the performance of three different small-scale aquaponic systems for the joint production of lettuce and Carassius auratus. The dataset presents the data acquired of the different variables for water quality, plant production and fish production.

Dataset acquired for the study published in the article: “Detection of unfavourable urban areas with higher temperatures and lack of green spaces using satellite imagery in sixteen Spanish cities”. This is part of the project “Urban Sustainability using new Data Mining developments (URSUS-DM)” the Spanish R & D Programme for projects addressing the challenges of the society (2018 call), in the framework of the State Plan of Scientific and Technical Research and Innovation 2017–2020, financed by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, grant number RTI2018095097-B-100. This study aims to identify the most unfavourable areas of a city in terms of high temperatures and the absence of green infrastructure. An automatic methodology based on remote sensing and data analysis has been developed and applied in sixteen Spanish cities with different characteristics. Landsat-8 satellite images were selected for each city from the July-August period of 2019 and 2020 to calculate the spatial variation of land surface temperature (LST). The Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) was used to determine the abundance of vegetation across the city. Based on the NDVI and LST maps created, a k-means unsupervised classification clustering was performed to automatically identify the different clusters according to how favourable these areas were in terms of temperature and presence of vegetation. A Disadvantaged Area Index (DAI), combining both variables, was developed to produce a map showing the most unfavourable areas for each city.

Indoor air pollution is a serious health problem throughout the world. Plants are known to be able to reduce the effect of air pollution and improve indoor air quality (IAQ). The aim of the present study was to compare the effectiveness of four plant species (Tradescantia zebrina hort. ex Bosse, Philodendron scandens K. Koch & Sello, Ficus pumila L. and Chlorophtytum comosum (Thunb.) Jacques) planted in an active living wall (ALW) for capturing particle pollutants. The ALW was introduced in a glass chamber and exposed to large (10-40 µm) and fine (1.2-10 µm) airborne particles containing a fixed concentration of potentially toxic elements (Al, B, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Ni and Pb). The surface particle deposition (sPM) was estimated in the leaves from the four species and the potentially toxic element concentration in the particulate matter (PM) was measured in plants, medium culture and in the ALW support system. The distribution of different particle size fractions differed between species. The capacity to trap particles on leaf surfaces was similar among the species (4.7-13 ng cm-2 ) except when comparing Tradescantia and Chlorophytum with Ficus, being higher in the latter species. Differences in toxic elements accumulation capacity were observed between species depending on the elements considered. The percentage of reduction in indoor pollution using an ALW was in a range of 65-79% being similar between species. Plants were the most important component of the ALW in terms of accumulation of indoor potentially toxic elements. The data presented here could be used to model the effectiveness of ALW systems schemes in improving IAQ.

Indoor air pollution is a serious health problem throughout the world. Plants are known to be able to reduce the effect of air pollution and improve indoor air quality (IAQ). The aim of the present study was to compare the effectiveness of four plant species (Tradescantia zebrina hort. ex Bosse, Philodendron scandens K. Koch & Sello, Ficus pumila L. and Chlorophtytum comosum (Thunb.) Jacques) planted in an active living wall (ALW) for capturing particle pollutants. The ALW was introduced in a glass chamber and exposed to large (10-40 µm) and fine (1.2-10 µm) airborne particles containing a fixed concentration of potentially toxic elements (Al, B, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Ni and Pb). The surface particle deposition (sPM) was estimated in the leaves from the four species and the potentially toxic element concentration in the particulate matter (PM) was measured in plants, medium culture and in the ALW support system. The distribution of different particle size fractions differed between species. The capacity to trap particles on leaf surfaces was similar among the species (4.7-13 ng cm-2) except when comparing Tradescantia and Chlorophytum with Ficus, being higher in the latter species. Differences in toxic elements accumulation capacity were observed between species depending on the elements considered. The percentage of reduction in indoor pollution using an ALW was in a range of 65-79% being similar between species. Plants were the most important component of the ALW in terms of accumulation of indoor potentially toxic elements. The data presented here could be used to model the effectiveness of ALW systems schemes in improving IAQ.

Aquaponics is emerging as an interesting alternative for sustainable agriculture which meets the philosophy of circular economy, decreasing not only the need of external resources but also increasing their use efficiency. Several studies can be found dealing with the analysis of different fish species combined with a great variety of crops in systems with diverse sophistication levels. Strawberry crop may be interesting for aquaponics systems. However, early production and the quality of the fruit, which are crucial factors affecting crop profitability, have not been previously assessed in aquaponics systems. This work aimed at evaluating these factors together with the consumption of resources in strawberry production using commercial multi-layer NFT channels coupled with tench production in an aquaponic system. Production of tench with low density of fish (700–1300 g m−3) was associated to 2 hydroponic lines where plants were transplanted in rockwool plugs or bare roots. Despite the fact that the transplanting of the strawberries was performed one month later than usual for this crop, the extra-early production was 31.9 and 33.6 g per plant for rockwool and bare root substrates, respectively. No significant differences were found neither in strawberry production nor in fruit quality for the two types of substrates studied. However, parameters related to earliness varied differently along time between bare root and rockwool. The cultivation of bare root plants is recommended, since it involves lower costs by saving in the acquisition of the substrate and less environmental and health problems for workers. Despite the fact that tench is a species very well adapted to the weather conditions in the production area, its low average daily gain ratios and its long growth cycle makes it unsuitable for combination with the cultivation of strawberry. However, the combination of a joint production of fish and plants in simple aquaponic systems would allow savings in fertiliz

This paper seeks to identify the most unfavourable areas of a city in terms of high temperatures and the absence of green infrastructure. An automatic methodology based on remote sensing and data analysis has been devel oped and applied in sixteen Spanish cities with different characteristics. Landsat-8 satellite images were selected for each city from the July-August period of 2019 and 2020 to calculate the spatial variation of land surface temperature (LST). The Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) was used to determine the abundance of vegetation across the city. Based on the NDVI and LST maps created, a k-means unsupervised classification clustering was performed to automatically identify the different clusters according to how favourable these areas were in terms of temperature and presence of vegetation. A Disadvantaged Area Index (DAI), combining both variables, was developed to produce a map showing the most unfavourable areas for each city. Overall, the percentage of the area susceptible to improvement with more vegetation in the cities studied ranged from 13 % in Huesca to 64–65 % in Bilbao and Valencia. The influence of several factors, such as the presence of water bodies or large buildings, is discussed. Detecting unfavourable areas is a very interesting tool for defining future planning strategy for green spaces.

La acuaponía combina la producción de peces (acuicultura) y de plantas (hidroponía), de forma sostenible y en un marco de economía circular, imitando un ecosistema natural complejo. Aunque las instalaciones acuapónicas llevan más de 50 años desarrollándosey pueden construirse con fines comerciales, la perspectiva del autoconsumo también es importante, debido a su alta proliferación en todo el mundo. Sin embargo, hay escasos conocimientos sobre cómo se lleva a cabo la producción acuapónica a pequeña escala y la presencia de productos acuapónicos en los mercados es todavía muy limitada. Los objetivos de esta tesis son: 1) Evaluar la producción acuapónica de un policultivo de diferentes hortalizas, hierbas y frutas junto con tilapias, para autoconsumo, durante todo un año, teniendo en cuenta las limitaciones climáticas durante el verano y el invierno, probando dos alternativas para reducir el consumo de energía en épocas frías. 2) Determinar el perfil y las motivaciones de los productores acuapónicos, las características de las instalaciones y el rendimiento de la producción en España y América Latina. 3) Caracterizar las preferencias de los potenciales consumidores y su disposición a pagar precios más altos por los productos acuapónicos en países hispanohablantes. Esta investigación proporciona una descripción exhaustiva del funcionamiento y manejo de dos Sistemas Acuapónicos de Pequeña Escala (SAPE), autoconstruidos basándose en modificaciones de los propuestos por la FAO. En ellos se produjeron 62 kg de tilapia y 352 kg de 22 verduras y frutas diferentes durante un año, lo que demostró que una instalación acuapónica a pequeña escala puede proporcionar parte de las frutas, verduras y pescado recomendadas para la subsistencia de una familia de cuatro miembros durante todo el año. En relación al pequeño productor acuapónico medio, el perfil más común es el de un hombre de mediana edad, con cierto nivel de estudios y una renta familiar moderada. Las principales motivaci, Aquaponics combines the sustainable production of fish (aquaculture) and plants (hydroponics), within a circular economy context, while simulating a complex natural ecosystem. Although aquaponic installations have been developing for more than 50 years and can be built for commercial purposes, the perspective of self-consumption is also important, due to its high proliferation worldwide. However, there is little knowledge on how it is carried out and the presence of aquaponic products in the markets is still very limited.The objectives of this thesis are: 1) To evaluate the aquaponic production of a polyculture of different vegetables, herbs and fruits together with tilapias, for self-consumption, during a whole year, taking into account the climatic limitations during summer and winter, and testing two alternatives to reduce energy consumption in cold periods. 2) To determine the profile and motivations of aquaponic producers, the characteristics of their installations and the production yield in Spain and Latin America. 3) To characterize the preferences of potential consumers and their willingness to pay higher prices for aquaponic products in Spanish-speaking countries. This research provides a comprehensive description of the operation and management of two self-built Small-Scale Aquaponic Systems (SAM), based on FAO models. In them, 62 kg of tilapia and 352 kg of 22 different vegetables and fruits were produced during one year. It was proved that a small-scale aquaponic installation can provide part of fruits, vegetables and fish recommended for the subsistence of a family of four members during a whole year. In relation to the average small aquaponic producer, the average profile was a middle-aged man, with a certain level of education and a moderate family income. The main motivations for having an aquaponic installation were the production of healthy and high-quality food, the concern for the environment and the autonomy acquired. These motivations conditio

Living walls, also referred as green walls or vertical gardens, are becoming a new reality worldwide, mainly in urban areas where the need to increase and enhance green spaces is of vital importance. Green infrastructures, such as living wall systems, can act as additional tools for improving the densely built cities' sustainability or even as a unique choice, in combination with green roof technology, in the case of the complete absence of appropriate terrestrial open spaces where community gardens, parks, urban forests and natural meadows could be installed. Thus, there are various commercial living wall systems and companies R&D departments promoting several innovative technologies. One of their objectives is to enable an adequate development of the living wall vegetation cover with low cost and maintenance needs, ensuring an aesthetically successful and high quality performance in the long term. During the current doctoral thesis, Fytotextile®, a patented felt- based system, and its evolutions were studied in order to assess and optimize their performance in indoor and outdoor living wall installations. Therefore, two studies were conducted in order to evaluate the water management performance of four felt- based living wall systems and to optimize the living wall systems in terms of auxiliary illumination needs. The first study, entitled “Improving the performance of felt- based living wall systems in terms of irrigation management” and published in the journal Urban Forestry & Urban Greening, focused on filling the knowledge gap on the performance of the commercial felt- based living wall system´s irrigation in terms of water management. Hence, the performance of the Fytotextile® commercial living wall system and of three new evolutions based on it was assessed based on the water retention capacity, drying speed and drainage rate, as well as plant performance. The results of the present study highlight (a) the potential of the materials used on felt- based liv, Los jardines verticales, también denominados fachadas ajardinadas o muros verdes, se están convirtiendo en una nueva realidad en todo el mundo, principalmente en áreas urbanas donde la necesidad de aumentar y mejorar los espacios verdes es de vital importancia. Las infraestructuras verdes, como los sistemas de jardines verticales, pueden actuar como herramientas adicionales o incluso como una opción única para mejorar la sostenibilidad de las ciudades densamente construidas, también en combinación con la tecnología de techos verdes, en el caso de la ausencia total de superficie disponible donde poder instalar jardines comunitarios, parques, bosques urbanos y prados naturales. En consecuencia, existen varios sistemas comerciales de jardines verticales y departamentos de I+D de empresas que promueven varias tecnologías innovadoras. Uno de sus objetivos es posibilitar un adecuado desarrollo de la cubierta vegetal de los jardines verticales con bajo coste y reducidas necesidades de mantenimiento, asegurando un desarrollo adecuado de la vegetación a largo plazo. En la actual tesis doctoral se estudió el Fytotextile®, un sistema patentado a base de fieltro, y sus evoluciones, para evaluar y optimizar su rendimiento en instalaciones de jardines verticales interiores y exteriores. Por lo tanto, se llevaron a cabo dos estudios con el fin de evaluar el comportamiento en la gestión del agua de cuatro sistemas de jardines verticales de fieltro, y optimizar los sistemas de los jardines verticales en términos de necesidades de iluminación auxiliar. El primer estudio, titulado “Improving the performance of felt- based living wall systems in terms of irrigation management” y publicado en la revista Urban Forestry & Urban Greening, se centró en llenar un vacío de conocimiento sobre el rendimiento de los sistemas de riego de jardines verticales comerciales de fieltro en términos de gestión del agua. Por lo tanto, se evaluó el comportamiento del sistema de jardín vertical comercial Fy

Living walls are vertical building integrated systems that allow increasing vegetation in cities, providing many benefits. However, some concerns are raised involving their environmental sustainability given that they need to be irrigated, especially in warm climates. Little information is available regarding the quantity of water required for the adequate maintenance of the vegetation in these vertical greening systems. This study aims to quantify the water consumption of felt-based living walls and assess the influencing variables. To do so, 16 living walls located in different Spanish cities were monitored during 1–4 years. Annual water consumptions between 2.5 and 9 L m-2 d-1 were observed, which are in line with the quantity of water required to irrigate other green in-frastructures. Though obviously the climatic conditions and species selected had an influence on the water consumption, the orientation and exposure to incident radiation and plant density were identified as the key factors. When possible, recirculating systems are advisable to reuse the excess of drainage water recovered from the bottom of the living wall.

Aquaponics is a sustainable food production system combining hydroponics and aquaculture. Although the domestic/small-scale aquaponic production has proliferated worldwide, there is scarce knowledge about how it is performed. The objective of this study was to determine the profile and motivations of aquaponic producers, the characteristics of the facilities and the performance of the production. The average aquaponic producer is a middle-aged man, with a certain level of studies and a moderate household income. The main motivations reported were the production of high-quality, healthy food, the concern for the environment and the autonomy gained. These motivations conditioned the purposes of the aquaponic facilities (mainly education, production of food for self-consumption and as a hobby), which, excepting small sales, did not have an economic motive. Due to their characteristics, aquaponic facilities are particularly adapted for urban agriculture (many of them were located on rooftops) and most of those studied were constructed recently. The nutrient film technique was the most used hydroponic subsystem, followed by media beds, where mostly a polyculture of leaf and fruit vegetables and aromatics are produced. Tilapia was the most common fish species used. In general, there is a lack of proper knowledge and expertise about these complex systems in order to efficiently operate them.

Waterborne diseases pose a significant risk in hydroponic crops, especially those caused by some species such as Fusarium, Pythium and Phytophthora. However, there is evidence of an increase in suppressiveness when using aquaculture effluents, as is the case with aquaponic systems. In this work, the incidence of diseases in hydroponic and aquaponic systems inside a greenhouse located in Seville (Spain) has been compared for two pathosystems: strawberry - Phytophthora cactorum - and tomato - Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici (Fol). The results obtained show greater suppressiveness in early stages against P. cactorum in aquaponic systems. On the contrary, the suppressivity against Fol was higher in the hydroponic systems, although in this case a significant influence of the nutritional status of the plants was observed. This negatively affected the aquaponic systems. These findings open an interesting line for the use of biological control agents (BCA) from aquaponic systems for the control of plant diseases in hydroponic systems, avoiding the use of pesticides. This can have a negative effect on the health of consumers and the environment.