Water sensitive urban design retrofits in Copenhagen – 40% to the sewer, 60% to the city

2013 ◽  
Vol 67 (9) ◽  
pp. 1945-1952 ◽  
Author(s):  
O. Fryd ◽  
A. Backhaus ◽  
H. Birch ◽  
C. F. Fratini ◽  
S. T. Ingvertsen ◽  
...  

Water Sensitive Urban Design (WSUD) is emerging in Denmark. This interdisciplinary desk study investigated the options for WSUD retrofitting in a 15 km2 combined sewer catchment area in Copenhagen. The study was developed in collaboration with the City of Copenhagen and its water utility, and involved researchers representing hydrogeology, sewer hydraulics, environmental chemistry/economics/engineering, landscape architecture and urban planning. The resulting catchment strategy suggests the implementation of five sub-strategies. First, disconnection is focused within sites that are relatively easy to disconnect, due to stormwater quality, soil conditions, stakeholder issues, and the provision of unbuilt sites. Second, stormwater runoff is infiltrated in areas with relatively deep groundwater levels at a ratio that doesn't create a critical rise in the groundwater table to the surface. Third, neighbourhoods located near low-lying streams and public parks are disconnected from the sewer system and the sloping terrain is utilised to convey runoff. Fourth, the promotion of coherent blue and green wedges in the city is linked with WSUD retrofits and urban climate-proofing. Fifth, WSUD is implemented with delayed and regulated overflows to the sewer system. The results are partially adopted by the City of Copenhagen and currently under pilot testing.

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (11) ◽  
pp. 6442
Author(s):  
David Aouad ◽  
Noushig Kaloustian

The 4 August 2020 Port of Beirut blast caused material damage to an estimated 77,000 apartments located across 10,000 buildings within a 3 km radius of the blast, impacting around 300,000, people predominantly in the municipality of Karantina, which is situated adjacent to the Port of Beirut. The blast shed light on the instability and unsustainable development approach of the city of Beirut since well before the French mandate circa 1921–1940. The impact of the blast provides an opportunity to reassess the relationship between many relevant aspects of the city planning including but not limited to: the relationship of the city to its suburbs, waterfront, and city center; the lack of local planning and cross sectorial master plans; the preservation of the heritage versus the complexity of its urban development; the city growth and increased haphazard urbanization; the infrastructure/service systems that have over the years become increasingly deficient; the lack of public spaces; impacts on urban climate; and the urban divide and inequality that have only grown deeper since the blast, all of which have a combined and adverse impact on the quality of city life. This paper analyzes the most suitable indicators that one must highlight within the context of Beirut city to propose a better and sustainable quality of life with a focus on areas that were significantly impacted by the recent POB blast, namely Karantina. Examples of indicators which were analyzed include sustainable urban design, open spaces, heritage, infrastructure, and urban fabric. The results indicated that the following four main urban design features help improve the quality of life in Karantina, including: (i) connecting areas of Karantina and Mar Mkhael through the reactivation of vacant lots; (ii) reactivation of Ibrahim Bacha and El-Khodr Streets; (iii) redefining the historical El Khodr Mosque boundary and reclaiming its role as an urban landmark; and (iv) integration of classified built heritage. These parameters are necessary to improve the quality of life. The benefits of community participation are also assessed in the improvement and sustainable planning of the city of Beirut.


2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 89 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liliane Manny ◽  
Rilo Restu Surya Atmaja ◽  
Doni Prakasa Eka Putra

The population in Yogyakarta City, Indonesia has increased since 1970, resulting in high groundwater utilization. This normally results in a decline of groundwater level in shallow aquifer beneath the city. However, expansion of the city and urbanization effects can also have the opposite effect and lead to a rise of groundwater levels due to urban recharge. This study investigates groundwater level changes in Yogyakarta City during a time period of 30 years between 1985 and 2015. Collected data in this research are groundwater level, rainfall, population density, sewer system, and land use. Overlaying various spatial information reveals a pattern of groundwater level rise in some areas of the city by 0–12 m, whilst in other areas a decline of 0–9 m is discovered. Rising groundwater levels are mainly found in areas moderate to high population density where sewer system networks have been installed. The rising of groundwater levels is this expected to be caused by urban recharge and sewers leakage.


Water ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (12) ◽  
pp. 3579
Author(s):  
Yinghong Qin

Urbanization has replaced natural permeable surfaces with roofs, roads, and other sealed surfaces, which convert rainfall into runoff that finally is carried away by the local sewage system. High intensity rainfall can cause flooding when the city sewer system fails to carry the amounts of runoff offsite. Although projects, such as low-impact development and water-sensitive urban design, have been proposed to retain, detain, infiltrate, harvest, evaporate, transpire, or re-use rainwater on-site, urban flooding is still a serious, unresolved problem. This review sequentially discusses runoff reduction facilities installed above the ground, at the ground surface, and underground. Mainstream techniques include green roofs, non-vegetated roofs, permeable pavements, water-retaining pavements, infiltration trenches, trees, rainwater harvest, rain garden, vegetated filter strip, swale, and soakaways. While these techniques function differently, they share a common characteristic; that is, they can effectively reduce runoff for small rainfalls but lead to overflow in the case of heavy rainfalls. In addition, most of these techniques require sizable land areas for construction. The end of this review highlights the necessity of developing novel, discharge-controllable facilities that can attenuate the peak flow of urban runoff by extending the duration of the runoff discharge.


Water ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 292 ◽  
Author(s):  
Boipelo Madonsela ◽  
Stef Koop ◽  
Kees Van Leeuwen ◽  
Kirsty Carden

In the face of water related risks resulting from climate change and rapid urbanization, water resources in South African cities have increasingly come under pressure. Following the most recent drought period (2015–2018), local authorities such as the City of Cape Town are being tasked with restructuring policy to include climate change adaptation strategies to adapt more adequately and proactively to these new challenges. This paper describes an evaluation of the water governance processes required to implement Water Sensitive Urban Design (WSUD) in Cape Town—with a specific focus on the barriers to, and opportunities for, those processes related to wastewater treatment, flood risk and the pressing issue of water scarcity. The City Blueprint Approach (CBA) was selected as the indicator assessment approach for this task. The CBA is a set of diagnostic tools comprising the Trends and Pressures Framework, the City Blueprint Framework and the Governance Capacity Framework. This was applied to Cape Town based on in-depth interviews and publicly available information. The analysis revealed that smart monitoring, community knowledge and experimentation with alternative water management technologies are important when considering uncertainties and complexities in the governance of urban water challenges. We conclude that there is potential for Cape Town to transition to a water sensitive city through learning from this experimentation and by implementing WSUD strategies that address water scarcity following the shifts in governance caused by the 2015–2018 drought.


2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 386-389
Author(s):  
Eduardo Oliveira

Evinç Doğan (2016). Image of Istanbul, Impact of ECoC 2010 on The City Image. London: Transnational Press London. [222 pp, RRP: £18.75, ISBN: 978-1-910781-22-7]The idea of discovering or creating a form of uniqueness to differentiate a place from others is clearly attractive. In this regard, and in line with Ashworth (2009), three urban planning instruments are widely used throughout the world as a means of boosting a city’s image: (i) personality association - where places associate themselves with a named individual from history, literature, the arts, politics, entertainment, sport or even mythology; (ii) the visual qualities of buildings and urban design, which include flagship building, signature urban design and even signature districts and (iii) event hallmarking - where places organize events, usually cultural (e.g., European Capital of Culture, henceforth referred to as ECoC) or sporting (e.g., the Olympic Games), in order to obtain worldwide recognition. 


Urban Science ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 5
Author(s):  
Hadi Zamanifard ◽  
Edward A. Morgan ◽  
Wade L. Hadwen

Modern stormwater treatment assets are a form of water sensitive urban design (WSUD) features that aim to reduce the volumes of sediment, nutrients and gross pollutants discharged into receiving waterways. Local governments and developers in urban areas are installing and maintaining a large number of stormwater treatment assets, with the aim of improving urban runoff water quality. Many of these assets take up significant urban space and are highly visible and as a result, community acceptance is essential for effective WSUD design and implementation. However, community perceptions and knowledge about these assets have not been widely studied. This study used a survey to investigate community perceptions and knowledge about stormwater treatment assets in Brisbane, Australia. The results suggest that there is limited community knowledge of these assets, but that communities notice them and value their natural features when well-maintained. This study suggests that local governments may be able to better inform residents about the importance of these assets, and that designing for multiple purposes may improve community acceptance and support for the use of Council funds to maintain them.


Water ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 1171 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mitja Janža ◽  
Joerg Prestor ◽  
Simona Pestotnik ◽  
Brigita Jamnik

The assurance of drinking water supply is one of the biggest emerging global challenges, especially in urban areas. In this respect, groundwater and its management in the urban environment are gaining importance. This paper presents the modeling of nitrogen load from the leaky sewer system and from agriculture and the impact of this pressure on the groundwater quality (nitrate concentration) in the urban aquifer located beneath the City of Ljubljana. The estimated total nitrogen load in the model area of 58 km2 is 334 ton/year, 38% arising from the leaky sewer system and 62% from agriculture. This load was used as input into the groundwater solute transport model to simulate the distribution of nitrate concentration in the aquifer. The modeled nitrate concentrations at the observation locations were found to be on average slightly lower (2.7 mg/L) than observed, and in general reflected the observed contamination pattern. The ability of the presented model to relate and quantify the impact of pressures from different contamination sources on groundwater quality can be beneficially used for the planning and optimization of groundwater management measures for the improvement of groundwater quality.


2016 ◽  
Vol 73 (9) ◽  
pp. 2251-2259 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. U. Hasse ◽  
D. E. Weingaertner

As the central product of the BMBF-KLIMZUG-funded Joint Network and Research Project (JNRP) ‘dynaklim – Dynamic adaptation of regional planning and development processes to the effects of climate change in the Emscher-Lippe region (North Rhine Westphalia, Germany)’, the Roadmap 2020 ‘Regional Climate Adaptation’ has been developed by the various regional stakeholders and institutions containing specific regional scenarios, strategies and adaptation measures applicable throughout the region. This paper presents the method, elements and main results of this regional roadmap process by using the example of the thematic sub-roadmap ‘Water Sensitive Urban Design 2020’. With a focus on the process support tool ‘KlimaFLEX’, one of the main adaptation measures of the WSUD 2020 roadmap, typical challenges for integrated climate change adaptation like scattered knowledge, knowledge gaps and divided responsibilities but also potential solutions and promising chances for urban development and urban water management are discussed. With the roadmap and the related tool, the relevant stakeholders of the Emscher-Lippe region have jointly developed important prerequisites to integrate their knowledge, to clarify vulnerabilities, adaptation goals, responsibilities and interests, and to foresightedly coordinate measures, resources, priorities and schedules for an efficient joint urban planning, well-grounded decision-making in times of continued uncertainties and step-by-step implementation of adaptation measures from now on.


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