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Green Infrastructure and Sustainable Urban Water Management

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Urban and Rural Development".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 September 2023) | Viewed by 5819

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Discipline of Civil Engineering, School of Engineering, Monash University Malaysia, Jalan Lagoon Selatan, Bandar Sunway 47500, Selangor, Malaysia
Interests: green infrastructures; sustainable urban stormwater management; flood prediction and mitigation
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Discipline of Civil Engineering, School of Engineering, Monash University Malaysia, Jalan Lagoon Selatan, Bandar Sunway 47500, Selangor, Malaysia
Interests: sustainable urban water management; nature-based solutions for stormwater management; biofiltration systems; flood modeling and management
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Urbanization and climate change have exacerbated various urban water management challenges, such as water pollution, shortage of water supply, increased flood risk, and aquatic ecosystem degradation. As the water and environmental systems become more complex, new approaches and techniques are required to enable decision-makers and stakeholders to develop sustainable solutions to tackle these problems. Green infrastructures (GIs) promote ecosystem services and enhance climate resiliency along with flood control and the improvement of water quality by utilizing natural elements including green spaces and water bodies within the urban environment. In the past few decades, components of green infrastructures are well covered in low-impact development (LIDs), sustainable urban drainage systems (SUDSs), water-sensitive urban design (WSUD) and best management practices (BMPs). The transition towards a resilient and sustainable urban environment has been made possible through the application of GI.

This Special Issue aims to attract studies which facilitate the understanding of how green infrastructures can (i) minimize the impact of urbanization on the water environment and (ii) achieve sustainable development in its three dimensions (economic, social and environmental) in a balanced and integrated manner. This Special Issue aims to address United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6 on clean water and sanitation, SDG 11 on sustainable cities and communities, and SDG 13 on climate action. All original research and review contributions within the scope of this Special Issue are highly welcome. We look forward to receiving your contributions.

We look forward to receiving your contributions. 

Dr. Chow Ming Fai
Dr. Amin Talei
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • climate change
  • green infrastructures
  • nature-based solutions
  • sustainable urban stormwater management

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

12 pages, 2427 KiB  
Article
Assessing the Efficiency of Green Absorbent in Treating Nutrients and Heavy Metal in Wastewater
by Ming Fai Chow, Ainun Syakirah Bahruddin and Kok Hua Chua
Sustainability 2023, 15(16), 12257; https://doi.org/10.3390/su151612257 - 11 Aug 2023
Viewed by 998
Abstract
This study is aimed to determine the performances of zeolite-water hyacinth ash (WHA)-clay (ZWC) pellets on removing nutrients (nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P)) and heavy metal (HM). In this study, the adsorption experiments were conducted for various pellet compositions and sizes, the application [...] Read more.
This study is aimed to determine the performances of zeolite-water hyacinth ash (WHA)-clay (ZWC) pellets on removing nutrients (nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P)) and heavy metal (HM). In this study, the adsorption experiments were conducted for various pellet compositions and sizes, the application of pre-treatment on pellets, and tested with different concentrations of synthetic wastewater. The results identified that the maximum removal capacities of ZWC pellet were 0.112 mg/g, 0.08 mg/g, 0.171 mg/g, and 0.151 mg/g for phosphate (PO4), total phosphorus (TP), nitrate-nitrogen (NO3), and total nitrogen (TN), respectively. The optimization experiment indicated that smaller pellet sizes and those treated with calcium hydroxide solution exhibited better N&P and HM removal performances. The optimized ZWC pellet was able to remove up to 90%, 86%, 94%, 90%, 84%, 86%, and 91% for PO4, TP, NO3, TN, zinc (Zn), copper (Cu), and lead (Pb), respectively, after 3 h of contact time. The ZWC pellet proved that it can be used as an effective adsorbent for wastewater treatment. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Green Infrastructure and Sustainable Urban Water Management)
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21 pages, 1031 KiB  
Article
The Performance of the Construction of a Water Ecological Civilization City: International Assessment and Comparison
by Qimeng Yue, Kate Heal, Jingshan Yu, Qianyang Wang, Yuexin Zheng, Zhanliang Zhu, Yuan Liu, Shugao Xu and Xiaolei Yao
Sustainability 2023, 15(4), 3071; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15043071 - 8 Feb 2023
Viewed by 2130
Abstract
The water ecological environment problems brought about by rapid urbanization have prompted the proposal and implementation of different approaches to urban water ecological construction, such as eco-cities, best management practices (BMPs), and low-impact development (LID). As one of the most representative urban water [...] Read more.
The water ecological environment problems brought about by rapid urbanization have prompted the proposal and implementation of different approaches to urban water ecological construction, such as eco-cities, best management practices (BMPs), and low-impact development (LID). As one of the most representative urban water ecological management policies in China, the Water Ecological Civilization City (WECC) was proposed in 2013, and 105 cities were selected for pilot construction. Many studies have evaluated the effectiveness of WECC construction, but international quantitative comparison is lacking. To address this, an urban Water-Human-Health (WHH) Assessment Model, considering water resources, ecological environment, economic and social development level, and water resources utilization, was developed and applied to five WECC pilot cities in China and 10 other cities worldwide, in which mainstream urban water ecological construction modes have been used. Principal component analysis of the index values in the assessment system was used to evaluate the current status of water ecosystem health in the 15 cities, showing that Sydney, Cleveland, and Hamburg were the most advanced in urban water ecological management. The two cities with the best evaluation results (Sydney and Cleveland), and the WECC city with the highest score (Wuhan) were selected for documentary analysis of their water ecological construction documents to identify similarities and differences to inform best practice internationally for urban water ecological construction. The results showed that Sydney and Cleveland attach similar emphasis across most constituents of urban water ecological construction, while, for Wuhan, greater importance is attached to water resource management and water culture. The advantages and disadvantages of WECC construction and international experience are discussed. The WHH assessment model proposed in this study provides a new quantitative evaluation method for international urban water ecological health evaluation, which could be further improved by including an urban flood risk indicator. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Green Infrastructure and Sustainable Urban Water Management)
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18 pages, 1155 KiB  
Article
A Systematic Assessment for the Co-Design of Green Infrastructure Prototypes—A Case Study in Urban Costa Rica
by Fernando Chapa, María Perez Rubi and Jochen Hack
Sustainability 2023, 15(3), 2478; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15032478 - 30 Jan 2023
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1919
Abstract
The management of urban water has evolved from single-function systems to more sustainable designs promoting society and nature as inputs to engineer novel infrastructure. In transdisciplinary research, co-design refers to a design-thinking strategy in which people jointly frame a problem–solution. This article presents [...] Read more.
The management of urban water has evolved from single-function systems to more sustainable designs promoting society and nature as inputs to engineer novel infrastructure. In transdisciplinary research, co-design refers to a design-thinking strategy in which people jointly frame a problem–solution. This article presents a conceptual framework to assess a case study focusing on the process of co-design and implementation of green infrastructure as a prototype for urban stormwater management. The evaluation is carried out from a self-reflective post-implementation perspective. Research activities are translated into the framework to evaluate conditions shaping the trajectory of the prototype development. As a result, key aspects driving the transdisciplinary research regarding levels of stakeholder participation and dimensions of power are identified. Planning resilient co-design strategies to retrofit urban spaces is necessary to avoid unintended consequences, especially at initial experimental stages. This study aims to contribute to the continuous improvement of piloting strategies in urban spaces by providing a framework for a structured evaluation of transdisciplinary research experiences. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Green Infrastructure and Sustainable Urban Water Management)
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