Landscape based urban drainage - adapting cities to heavier rain storms. P33.09

Climate changes will lead to more intensive rain events in Northern Europe. This will challenge the capacity of drainage systems in urban areas. Conventional sewer based solutions is reaching its technical and economical limits, and complementing strategies are necessary. The Danish research project “Black, Blue and Green –Integrated Infrastructure Planning as Key to Sustainable Urban Water Systems” explores the potentials of local detention and infiltration of rainwater by using the urban landscape.

Hydrologists, environmental chemists, landscape architects and urban planners join forces in the aim of developing integrated tools for decision support. In collaboration with the City of Copenhagen and Copenhagen Energy 6 PhD students are currently developing a joint case study that aims to work as a proof of concept for the integrated approach to stormwater management and to improve interfaces between disciplinary tools.

This paper will present the set-up of the joint case study and discuss the challenges, potentials and expected outcome of the study.