Advances in Urban Hydrology and Stormwater Management

Dear Colleagues,

With the global growing population and urbanization, the expansion of our growth centers is sometimes unplanned or uncontrolled. As of 31 July 2024, the current world population is 8.1 billion according to the most recent United Nations estimates (Worldometer). As of 2022, it is estimated that over half (55 per cent) of the population is living in urban areas, a figure projected to rise to 70 per cent by 2050. The effects of these urban developments on hydrology and stormwater management are significant enough not to be ignored. Traditionally, managing stormwater in urban areas involves collecting rainwater through gutters into sewer systems which is known as “end of pipe treatment” with massive discharges. With increasing impervious surfaces due to urbanization, alternatives have been developed including decentralized systems. However, these systems are often sized for design storms and incapable of handling major storms, resulting in flood damages. Given the effects and impacts of climate change and the frequency of extreme rainfall events, new and appropriate hydraulic designs of these alternative systems are needed. There is an urgent need to collect data to calibrate the parameters used in design and modeling. Are our current modeling approaches still valid when it comes to modeling the impact of climate change? Are the default parameters in our modeling approaches developed based on historical records appropriate to model the impact of climate change and increase impervious surfaces? While dealing with hydrology and water quality separately, is there a way to integrate hydrology and water quality to better manage urban stormwater? Can the current flood mapping in urban areas reflect urbanization and changing rainfall intensities and storm durations? Can our current stormwater management design guidelines incorporate the changing climate and urban landscape? Are green and blue infrastructures the way to manage stormwater in increasingly populated urban areas?   

The goal of this Special Issue is to collect papers (original research articles and review papers) to provide insights into innovative research and developments on urban hydrology and stormwater management as we face issues brought about by increasing population, droughts, changing urban landscape, and climate change.

This Special Issue will welcome manuscripts that link the following themes:

• Urban hydrology;
• Urban drainage system modeling;
• Sustainable urban drainage system;
• Green infrastructure and flood mitigation;
• Best practice guidelines on flood estimation and climate change;
• Approaches to modeling change;
• Innovative technologies on drainage systems and flood management;
• Data analytics applications for drainage systems and flood management;
• GIS applications for drainage systems and flood management;
• Drainage basins and runoff calculations and methodologies;
• Hydrologic design for water excess management.

Submitted studies may be focused on data collection, management, and reliability; may involve the numerical modeling of physical processes; or finally, may propose technical solutions for problems at stake. Problem-oriented, interdisciplinary studies will significantly add value to this Special Issue.

We look forward to receiving your original research articles and reviews.

Dr. Shirley Gato-Trinidad
Prof. Dr. Upaka Rathnayake
Dr. Kuok King Kuok
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Hydrology is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• urban hydrology
• stormwater management
• green infrastructure
• flood modeling and mitigation
• urban drainage modeling
• GIS