Abstract
With increasing urbanization and intensifying climate change impacts, an increasing amount of impermeable surfaces can result in surface stormwater runoff that overwhelms existing stormwater drainage systems. In response to the urgent need for sustainable cities, there has been a growing body of research on an increasingly popular urban planning initiative: sustainable urban stormwater management or ‘low impact development’. In this work, we expand on this discussion by investigating the stormwater resilience of the University of British Columbia’s Vancouver campus and the effectiveness of low impact development practices in increasing the resilience to climate change impacts. Specifically, the report examines various low impact development controls, including green roofs, rain gardens, and permeable pavements, evaluating their performance in managing stormwater runoff and reducing flood risk. The study used a GIS rainfall-runoff analysis, employing a stormwater management model (SWMM 5.2) to simulate projected storm events under a moderate climate change scenario. The research findings indicate that a combination of permeable pavements and rain gardens are the most effective low impact development controls to enhance stormwater resilience. This supports existing research that low impact development can increase the infiltration of stormwater into the ground, thus reducing the volume of stormwater runoff and subsequent flooding events. This study concludes that low impact development is a promising urban planning initiative to enhance urban resilience to climate change impacts, and emphasizes the need for further GIS-based research to optimize the design and implementation of low impact development controls.
MGEM Student: Melissa Birch
Community Partner: UBC Campus + Community Planning
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Birch, Melissa, 2023, “Urban Resilience: The Optimization of Sustainable Urban Stormwater Management”, https://doi.org/10.5683/SP3/AEDIVC, Borealis, V1