Toward Sustainable Urban Drainage Infrastructure Planning: A Combined Multiobjective Optimization and Multicriteria Decision-Making Platform

Amin E Bakhshipour,Ali Haghighi,Wolfgang Nowak,Ulrich Dittmer

doi:10.1061/(asce)wr.1943-5452.0001389

Abstract

This study aims to introduce a generic solution in the context of a multicriteria decision making (MCDM) platform to (1) facilitate the optimization of hybrid (de)centralized urban drainage infrastructures with many decisions and often conflicting objectives (reliability, resilience, sustainability, and construction costs); (2) investigate the trade-offs between performance indicators and system configuration; and (3) avoid conflicts between optimization analysts and decision makers by involving the latter in different stages of planning. For this purpose, first, all optimum design scenarios of hybrid urban drainage systems (UDSs) are generated through multiobjective optimization (MOO). Then a platform based on MCDM is presented to comprehensively analyze the solutions found by MOO and to rank the solutions. For the sake of demonstration, the proposed framework is applied to a real case study. The results confirm the ability of the proposed framework in handling many decisions, objectives, and indicators for solving a complex optimization problem in a reasonable time by delivering realistic solutions. In addition, the results demonstrate the important role of the degree of (de)centralization (DC) and the layout configuration in obtaining optimal solutions.

Highlights

Urban drainage systems (UDSs) are vital and complex infrastructures in cities which directly influence the public economy, health, and welfare (Dong et al 2017)
This study aims to introduce a generic solution in the context of a multicriteria decision making (MCDM) platform to (1) facilitate the optimization of hybridcentralized urban drainage infrastructures with many decisions and often conflicting objectives; (2) investigate the trade-offs between performance indicators and system configuration; and (3) avoid conflicts between optimization analysts and decision makers by involving the latter in different stages of planning
This study introduced a multicriteria decision-making platform for sustainable planning of urban drainage infrastructures considering centralized or decentralized strategies

Summary

Introduction

Urban drainage systems (UDSs) are vital and complex infrastructures in cities which directly influence the public economy, health, and welfare (Dong et al 2017). Stormwater that is not drained appropriately can cause additional health risks, public inconvenience, and damage (Butler and Davies 2011). The performance of existing UDSs in various cities is negatively affected by multiple and uncertain threats, such as climate change, rapid and uncontrolled urbanization, and aging infrastructure. Together, these threats cause more frequent and more severe urban flooding with adverse consequences on society, the economy, and the environment (Butler et al 2014)

Objectives

Results

Conclusion