Sustainable Urban Water Management: The Role of Nature-Based Solutions
A special issue of Water (ISSN 2073-4441). This special issue belongs to the section "Urban Water Management".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 March 2026 | Viewed by 151
Special Issue Editors
Interests: urban water management; resilient urban water systems; climate change mitigation; nature based solutions; sustainable and liveable cities; machine learning techniques
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: water resource management; hydrological analysis; impact of climate change; soft computing techniques; explainable artificial intelligence; catchment analysis
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
As cities grow and climate change intensifies, the challenges of sustainable urban water management are becoming more urgent. Urban areas are vulnerable to water-related issues like flooding, droughts, and pollution, which affect both the environment and public health. Traditional water management methods, often reliant on engineered solutions, can reduce immediate risks but fail to address the interconnectedness of water, ecology, and urban resilience. Over time, these methods can be costly and environmentally harmful and are unable to meet the growing demands of expanding populations while also failing to adapt to climate change.
Recently, there has been a growing recognition of the need for more sustainable practices, such as Nature-based Solutions (NbS), in urban water management. These solutions stem from the understanding that nature holds many answers to urban water challenges. NbS offer innovative alternatives that use natural processes to manage water sustainably while providing co-benefits like enhanced biodiversity, improved public spaces, and climate resilience.
This Special Issue explores how NbS can address urban water challenges by integrating natural systems into city infrastructure. NbS, such as green roofs, permeable pavements, wetlands, urban forests, etc., help regulate water flow, improve water quality, and restore ecosystems. They also offer cost-effective, adaptive strategies to cope with climate variability, supporting long-term resilience and providing effective interventions to protect, manage, and/or restore natural or modified systems, including cities, rivers, watersheds, and coastlines. We invite original research and reviews to inspire dialogue, collaboration, and innovation across sectors, encouraging cities to adopt nature-based approaches in their water management strategies.
Dr. Nitin Muttil
Dr. Upaka Rathnayake
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
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Keywords
- sustainable urban water management
- nature-based solutions
- floods and droughts
- water quality improvement
- climate resilience
- green infrastructure
- environmental sustainability
- coastal management
- liveable cities
- sustainable development goals (SDGs)
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