GIS + Sustainable Urban Planning: A solution to make cities more sustainable
Multicriteria Analysis for the implementation of Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems in Spain.
M. Fornes.
University of Brighton 2008
Sustainable urban drainage systems (SUDS) have become the most effective way to deal with water quantity and water quality problems in Europe. Concerns on flooding and diffuse pollution have forced engineers to seek new environmental drainage techniques to response the demands of the new Water Framework Directive.
These locations were selected by their differences in topographic, climatic and land use characteristics checked by GIS. The findings obtained showed that SUDS may help in the reduction of water pollution and flooding effects, minimising the vulnerability of the analysed locations and proving the huge potential of SUDS application in Spain.
The international scientific community have been arguing that world precipitation patterns will experience dramatically changes in many countries altering their frequency and intensity. In this sense, there will be a demand on the implementation of a new drainage planning.
Flooding and local drainage problems are among the oldest and most common reasons for implementing any kind of urban stormwater management (Ferguson, 1994).
The Water Framework Directive (WFD, 2000/60/EC) makes a proposal over protection, improvement and management of Europe’s rivers, lakes, estuaries, coastal water and groundwater. Among many environmental aims, WFD is concerned on all water resources, including both surface and groundwater, fresh and saline.
In order to deal with water quality and water quantity concern, Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems (SUDS) are being used widely throughout Europe (Wilson et al., 2004). The aim of SUDS practitioners is the implementation of different environmentally friendly drainage techniques in order to imitate as closely as possible the natural drainage.
The objective is the reduction of run-off and its water pollution potential ineceiving watercourses (Wilson et al., 2004). SUDS practitioners have also claimed that the forecast on the increase of urban areas planning in recent years has failed in the implementation of sewer and drainage system works, affecting the sewage treatment plants functioning, stimulating water run-off and, subsequently, an increase in flood events (Castro et al., 2005).
Why GIS in urban planning?
The advantage of using GIS on environmental research and particularly on SUDS implementation has been recently discussed. A study by Peña Llopis (2006) indicates that ArcGIS allows the making of a new data base linked and oriented to geographical information, achieving the combination of object’s properties with its ‘behaviour’. Although there have been made studies advising and selecting the most suitable places for the application of new environmental-friendly drainage techniques, these have not been enough for the identification of sites which could be the object of a SUDS implementation plan (Mitchell, 2005). Mitchell (2005) claims that GIS model may help SUDS practitioners in order to identify problems that might rise during SUDS planning.
M. Fornes.
University of Brighton 2008
Sustainable urban drainage systems (SUDS) have become the most effective way to deal with water quantity and water quality problems in Europe. Concerns on flooding and diffuse pollution have forced engineers to seek new environmental drainage techniques to response the demands of the new Water Framework Directive.
These locations were selected by their differences in topographic, climatic and land use characteristics checked by GIS. The findings obtained showed that SUDS may help in the reduction of water pollution and flooding effects, minimising the vulnerability of the analysed locations and proving the huge potential of SUDS application in Spain.
Flooding and local drainage problems are among the oldest and most common reasons for implementing any kind of urban stormwater management (Ferguson, 1994).
The Water Framework Directive (WFD, 2000/60/EC) makes a proposal over protection, improvement and management of Europe’s rivers, lakes, estuaries, coastal water and groundwater. Among many environmental aims, WFD is concerned on all water resources, including both surface and groundwater, fresh and saline.
In order to deal with water quality and water quantity concern, Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems (SUDS) are being used widely throughout Europe (Wilson et al., 2004). The aim of SUDS practitioners is the implementation of different environmentally friendly drainage techniques in order to imitate as closely as possible the natural drainage.
The objective is the reduction of run-off and its water pollution potential ineceiving watercourses (Wilson et al., 2004). SUDS practitioners have also claimed that the forecast on the increase of urban areas planning in recent years has failed in the implementation of sewer and drainage system works, affecting the sewage treatment plants functioning, stimulating water run-off and, subsequently, an increase in flood events (Castro et al., 2005).
Why GIS in urban planning?
The advantage of using GIS on environmental research and particularly on SUDS implementation has been recently discussed. A study by Peña Llopis (2006) indicates that ArcGIS allows the making of a new data base linked and oriented to geographical information, achieving the combination of object’s properties with its ‘behaviour’. Although there have been made studies advising and selecting the most suitable places for the application of new environmental-friendly drainage techniques, these have not been enough for the identification of sites which could be the object of a SUDS implementation plan (Mitchell, 2005). Mitchell (2005) claims that GIS model may help SUDS practitioners in order to identify problems that might rise during SUDS planning.
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