Phytoremediation as an urban paradigm in promoting the health-potential of small green areas

•Phytoremediation can be used as a holistic method of improving air quality in cities.•The ongoing recovery process is an essential guideline for compact urban green areas.•The phytoremediation rules extend the beneficial affordance of green areas.•Multifunctionality is a crucial necessity for the design of small urban green areas.•Proper arrangement of plants can bring an improvement of up to 7-8%. This paper aims to present a methodical design of a small-scale urban green area with increased phytoremediation potential. The applied compilation-based method with a view to intensifying the regenerative potential of the shaped green area, determining both the quantitative potential of improving air quality and simultaneously identifying qualitative aesthetic features, comes out of recognition of the psychophysical nature of air pollution impacts on human health. A multifaceted evaluation of the designed solutions carried out using the Micrometeorological Computational Fluid Dynamics model (ENVI-met software) allows us to explore various properties of the plant layout and its influence on the PM2.5 concentration. The result of the CFD simulation indicated that the proper sequence in the plant layout may reduce the level of pollution concentration behind the green barrier by about 7-8%, on average. Simultaneously, we demonstrate that the assembly of plants, organised according to phytoremediation requirements, acts as passive protection from traffic-related pollution, and may offer high visual value ensuring the environment of positive cognitive stimuli. The correlation of these aspects maximises the benefits of nature-human relation, extending the scope of the 'restorative' as a concept and revealing the multifaceted potential of phytoremediation as a comprehensive method of urban green area design. [Display omitted]