Abstract
Urbanization and extreme weather require smarter urban water management. Nature-based solutions (NBS) like vegetated roofs and city trees can contribute effectively to climate resilience and future proof urban water management. However, large scale implementation is limited due to a lack of knowledge among professionals on how to capture, store, and reuse water on-site. In this paper we advocate a classification into no-tech, low-tech, and high-tech green, thereby supporting urban designers to better utilize the ability of these green elements to effectively manage water flows in different urban settings. Here, “no tech” green is considered traditional urban green, handling (rain) water like nature would. “Low-tech” green (e.g., extensive Sedum roofs) are suitable for dense urban settings with limited demand for water management and ecosystem services. More developed “high-tech” green solutions have vegetation performing even beyond natural capacities, offering full water management control options and enable city planners, architects and landscape designers to enhance urban resilience and circularity without claiming valuable urban space. We elaborate our “tech NBS” approach for city trees and vegetated roofs thereby demonstrating the classification's added value for sustainable urban design. We conclude that specifying the demanded “no/low/high” -tech level of green infrastructure in urban design plans will help to yield the most of ecosystem services using appropriate levels of available technology.
Highlights
VEGETATED ROOFS AND CITY TREES AS OPPORTUNITY TO ACHIEVE WATER SMART CITIESWater is essential for life in cities: drinking water, hygiene, irrigation of green infrastructure and to some extend food production
Central to nature-based solutions (NBS) is the fact that they make use of natural alternatives to purely technological solutions in order to solve a wide array of problems
We elaborate how for dense urban settings this matches with our classification of these NBS into “low tech” vs. “high tech.”
Summary
Water is essential for life in cities: drinking water, hygiene, irrigation of green infrastructure and to some extend food production. Central to NBS is the fact that they make use of natural alternatives to purely technological solutions in order to solve a wide array of problems These NBS support ecosystem functions like enhancing biodiversity, water retention, reducing urban heat, increasing human health and wellbeing and the sustainable production of food. With a focus on these two urban green elements we thereby contribute to the increasing NBS-literature by discussing the technology aspect in relation to the NBS performance in urban water management and the NBS application in urban planning and design (Hansen et al, 2015) By adding this perspective, we hope to contribute to a better and more evidence-based application of NBS in city practice and remove barriers for NBS implementation among urban development professionals
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