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Geomatic Techniques Applied to Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems to help Urban and Land-Use Planning

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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 (28 February 2022) | Viewed by 13038

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Luis A. Sañudo-Fontaneda

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Guest Editor

Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering Group, Department of Construction and Manufacturing Engineering, University of Oviedo, 33600 Mieres, Spain
Interests: ancient stormwater engineering; civil engineering heritage; green stormwater infrastructure; highway engineering; low-impact development; sustainable drainage systems; stormwater control measures; sustainable construction; teaching innovation; urban and territorial planning; water-sensitive urban design
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Prof. Dr. Pablo Rodríguez-Gonzálvez

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Guest Editor

Department of Mining Technology, Topography and Structures, University of León, Avda. Astorga, s/n, 24401 Ponferrada, Spain
Interests: photogrammetry; drones; laser scanning; radiometric calibration; remote sensing; RGB-D sensors; 3D modeling; mobile mapping; metrology; verification; inspection; quality control
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Dr. Cristina Allende-Prieto

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Guest Editor

Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering Group, Department of Mining Exploitation and Prospecting, University of Oviedo, 33600 Mieres (Principality of Asturias), Spain
Interests: topography; civil engineering; geographic information systems; remote sensing; geodesy; photogrammetry; cartography; spectroscopy
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In the current climate crisis, comprehending global warming and climate change triggers the need to develop new urban planning scenarios that include new paradigms in designing and building our urban environments worldwide, such as biourbanism and regenerative urbanism amongst others. Urban water management is central to adapt cities to climate change. Intense flood events and severe droughts affect human activities and endanger food and citizen security. Nature-based solutions (NBS) and green infrastructure have been highlighted by the United Nations (UN) and the European Union (EU) as key techniques to tackle these urban challenges under a new paradigm in urban water management, based on the philosophy known as water sensitive urban design (WSUD). Sustainable urban drainage systems (SUDS) are the techniques utilized in this context, having been proven to be effective against the urban heat island (UHI) effect, flood mitigation, rainwater harvesting in drought areas, pollution treatment, and improving urban livability and amenity.

Parallelly, geomatic techniques are providing new solutions for the data acquisition, management, and analysis of multi-source geospatial data. At this point, geomatic techniques can play a central role in SUDS, thanks to the new developments in remote sensing data acquisition, low cost mapping platforms, GIS analysis, and other terrestrial techniques (e.g., mobile mapping systems). Therefore, the synergies between both (SUDS and geomatics) can develop more effective urban development plans related to NBS and the subsequent environmental, social, and economic improvements.

This Special Issue aims to increase the knowledge in how geomatic techniques applied to SUDS can (1) contribute towards urban/regional planning, (2) improve design by increasing the accuracy of methods and calculations, (3) integrate social aspects and ecosystem services, and (4) monitor and evaluate the different management trains. Therefore, we would like to invite you to contribute by submitting articles about your research, experimental work, reviews, and/or case studies related to this topic. Contributions may be from, but not limited to, the following keywords.

Dr. Luis A. Sañudo-Fontaneda
Dr. Pablo Rodríguez-Gonzálvez
Dr. Cristina Allende-Prieto
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. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly 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 2400 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.

Keywords

3D documentation techniques (remote sensing, photogrammetry, laser scanning, drones, mobile mapping, etc.)
3D modeling
Geographic information system and terrain analysis
Land-use planning
Amenity and community perception
Bioretention
Biourbanism and regenerative urbanism
Data and sensor fusion
Design advances
Flood risk
Green infrastructure
Green dtreets
Livability
Low impact development
Maintenance issues
New emerging pollutants
Planning and policies
Point cloud processing: filtering, segmentation, classification, and modelling
Potential water reuse
Processes of adaptation to climate change
Rainwater harvesting techniques
Resilient food and water systems
Sponge cities
Stormwater management strategies and maintenance
Sustainable drainage systems
Urban drainage retrofits
Urban forest
Urban land-use planning
Water quality improvement
Water sensitive urban design

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

17 pages, 4126 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Comparative Efficiency of Two Different Constructed Wetlands for Wastewater Treatment of Small Populations in Mediterranean Continental Climate

by Alejandro Acero-Oliete, Pedro Luis López-Julián, Beniamino Russo and Oscar Ruiz-Lozano

Sustainability 2022, 14(11), 6511; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su14116511 - 26 May 2022

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1541

Abstract

The treatment of wastewater from small towns supposes problems of economic efficiency, leading to very high environmental costs in areas with low population density. Constructed wetlands (CW) seems to be the more suitable solution for this kind of situation, but further investigations are needed regarding their efficiency under different climatic conditions. This work presents the results concerning urban wastewater treatment by means of two different constructed wetlands using macrophytes: horizontal subsurface flow (HSSF) and free water surface (FWS). The systems are located in a Mediterranean continental climate area and are fed by a by-pass at the entrance of a wastewater treatment plant. A four-year sampling campaign at the outlet of the CW allowed verifying their relative effectiveness in removing pollutants in the different seasons of the year. BOD₅, COD, and TSS were significantly removed (with average reductions of 55%, 60%, and 57%, respectively) by these natural phytodepuration systems, with HSSF being more efficient during plants’ dormancy than FWS, but the concentrations of nutrients indicated that cumulative effects occur in CW with the need of adequate annual maintenance. It was found that the main factors controlling the efficiency of such systems throughout the year are the period of vegetative development, the presence/absence of a solid substrate, and the pollutant load of the wastewater inlet. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Geomatic Techniques Applied to Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems to help Urban and Land-Use Planning)

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22 pages, 4211 KiB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceArticle

A SUDS Planning Decision Support Tool to Maximize Ecosystem Services

by Juliana Uribe-Aguado, Sara L. Jiménez-Ariza, María N. Torres, Natalia A. Bernal, Mónica M. Giraldo-González and Juan P. Rodríguez

Sustainability 2022, 14(8), 4560; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su14084560 - 11 Apr 2022

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 3122

Abstract

In the past years, alternative drainage approaches have emerged, such as Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems (SUDS), to prevent run-off and flooding impacts on the most vulnerable zones of the cities. These systems not only provide the benefit of water regulation but also promote other types of ecosystem services. Several studies have developed optimization tools to assist SUDS selection, location, and design. However, they do not consider a comprehensive set of ecosystem services (e.g., provision, regulation, cultural, and support services). This research proposes a flexible and adaptable methodology to incorporate SUDS in different stages of urban projects using a multi-objective optimization technique to minimize run-off, maximize ecosystem services and minimize cost. The methodology comprises four phases: (1) the preliminary analysis of ecosystem services potentially generated by each SUDS type, (2) the priority and opportunity index quantification, (3) the physical feasibility analysis, and (4) the multi-objective optimization tool implementation. The methodology was successfully applied to three different urban areas of Bogotá city (Colombia). Results evidence that the interaction of the budget constraints and the available area restrict the potential benefits of SUDS implementation. These results are helpful to support different urban planning stages. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Geomatic Techniques Applied to Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems to help Urban and Land-Use Planning)

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20 pages, 10700 KiB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceArticle

Development of a Multicriteria Scheme for the Identification of Strategic Areas for SUDS Implementation: A Case Study from Gijón, Spain

by Antonio Menéndez Suárez-Inclán, Cristina Allende-Prieto, Jorge Roces-García, Juan P. Rodríguez-Sánchez, Luis A. Sañudo-Fontaneda, Carlos Rey-Mahía and Felipe P. Álvarez-Rabanal

Sustainability 2022, 14(5), 2877; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14052877 - 01 Mar 2022

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 3164

Abstract

Spain has been pinpointed as one of the European countries at major risk of extreme urban events. Thus, Spanish cities pursue new urban plans to increase their resilience. In this scenario, experiences in the implementation of Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems (SUDS) have increased substantially. Nevertheless, few cities have developed a global urban strategy for SUDS, lacking, in many cases, a method to identify strategic areas to maximize their synergetic benefits. Furthermore, there is still a need for a holistic Multicriteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) framework that considers the four pillars of SUDS design. The city of Gijón, NW Spain, has been selected as a case study due to its environmental and climatic stresses. This research presents the methodology developed for this city, which aims to analyze the need for SUDS implementation throughout the identification of strategic areas. With this aim, a combination of Geographic Information System (GIS) software and the MCDA Analytical Hierarchical Process (AHP) were proposed. The results show the potential for SUDS’ implementation, according to nine criteria related to the SUDS’ design pillars. We found that the areas where the implementation of SUDS would bring the greatest functional, environmental and social benefits are mainly located in consolidated urban areas. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Geomatic Techniques Applied to Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems to help Urban and Land-Use Planning)

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17 pages, 3993 KiB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceArticle

Efficient Urban Runoff Quantity and Quality Modelling Using SWMM Model and Field Data in an Urban Watershed of Tehran Metropolis

by Fariba Zakizadeh, Alireza Moghaddam Nia, Ali Salajegheh, Luis Angel Sañudo-Fontaneda and Nasrin Alamdari

Sustainability 2022, 14(3), 1086; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su14031086 - 18 Jan 2022

Cited by 20 | Viewed by 3713

Abstract

This study aims to calibrate and validate the EPA Storm Water Management Model from field measurements of rainfall and runoff, in order to simulate the rainfall-runoff process in an urban watershed of Tehran metropolis, Iran. During and after three significant storm events, the flow rates, total suspended solids (TSS), total phosphorus (TP), and total Kjeldahl nitrogen (TKN) concentrations were measured at the outlet of the catchment, and were used in the model calibration and validation process. The performance of the SWMM model was evaluated based on the statistical criteria, as well as graphical techniques. In this study, a local sensitivity analysis was carried out to identify the key model parameters, show that “the percentage of impervious surface in each subwatershed had the most effect on the model output”. Based on the analysis of the results, SWMM model calibration and validation can be judged as satisfactory, and the goodness-of-fit indices for simulating runoff quality and quantity are placed in acceptable ranges. The adjustment obtained for the variations in the measured and simulated flow rates, pollutograph concentrations, total pollutant load, peak concentration, and the event mean concentration (EMC) confirms the considerable predictive capability of the SWMM model when it is well calibrated by using field measurements. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Geomatic Techniques Applied to Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems to help Urban and Land-Use Planning)

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