Appropriating water infrastructure systems for urban landscape design in high-density cities.

Abstract

The current debates surrounding the new paradigms of water-sensitive urban design, water-centric sustainable communities, and sponge cities offer the opportunity for new forms of cooperation between urban/landscape planning and hydraulic engineering and thus the possibility of using these different fields of activity to develop integrated, interdisciplinary design fields. The design field of flood protection includes giving rivers enough space to flood safely, while at the same time integrating multi-functional flood-protection systems into the urban fabric. The design field of stormwater management and purification involves the strategic integration of water detention, infiltration, purification, and flooding processes into designed open spaces, the design field of drought prevention includes saving and recycling water by using drought-resistant plants and as well as purifying and reusing wastewater for irrigation purposes. In this section, each of these three design fields is illustrated by presenting the process and results from design research projects in Germany, China, and Peru.