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Water
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Water and Human Settlements of the Future
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Water and Human Settlements of the Future

A special issue of Water (ISSN 2073-4441). This special issue belongs to the section "Urban Water Management".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 April 2022) | Viewed by 11764

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Jordi Morato Farreras

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Research Institute in Sustainability Science and Technology (IS.UPC), Technical University of Catalunya, 08222 Terrassa, Spain
Interests: nature-based solutions; water and human settlements; sustainable and circular water management; ecosystem services assessment; treatment wetlands
Prof. Dr. Nicola Tollin

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Civil and Architectural Engineering, University of Southern Denmark, 5230 Odense, Denmark
Interests: urban resilience; water and human settlements; climate change adaptation
Dr. Alexandros Makarigakis

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
Interests: Intergovernmental Hydrological Programme; water science; water and human settlements

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Cities worldwide are exposed to major interconnected challenges such as urbanization, population growth, climate change, and the depletion of natural resources. Water is a central component of these present and future challenges, and is fundamental for sustainable urban development. A growing number of cities are facing challenges in managing their water resources and services due to water scarcity and an increase in water demand; moreover, the growing frequency and magnitude of climate-induced water hazards such as flood and droughts is threatening urban livelihoods, populations, infrastructures, and ecosystems. The aforementioned water issues are even more crucial in cities of developing countries, and particularly for informal settlements and peri-urban areas.

The Special Issue aims at collecting original research and literature review articles on the state of the art and recent theoretical advances on water research, policy, and practice in cities worldwide, in relation to major global challenges and responses/solutions to these challenges. We particularly welcome articles related to integrated urban water management, water and urban metabolism, water-sensitive cities and sponge cities, urban biodiversity and nature-based solutions for climate and health emergency, and water circular economy, including articles with specific focus on policies, strategies, actions, and appropriate technologies. Connections between traditional ecological knowledge and ancestral hydro-technologies with nature-based solutions, and articles with a focus on developing context and informal settlements are also very welcome.

This Special Issue is grounded in the knowledge and research activities developed in the frame of the VIII Phase (2014–2021) of the Intergovernmental Hydrological Programme (IHP) of UNESCO, specifically on the thematic area of water and human settlements of the future. Thereby, the aim of this Special Issue is to further contribute to supporting evidence-based policy makings through fostering scientific advances to meet today’s global urban water challenges.

Dr. Jordi Morato Farreras
Prof. Nicola Tollin
Dr. Alexandros Makarigakis
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. Water 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 2600 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

  • Integrated water urban management
  • Water and urban metabolism
  • Water-sensitive cities
  • Sponge cities
  • Water policies
  • Water action in cities
  • Climate adaptation
  • Disaster risk reduction
  • Urban resilience
  • Urban ecosystem services
  • Urban biodiversity
  • Nature-based solutions
  • Blue-green infrastructures
  • Water circular economy
  • Urban–rural interlinkages
  • Informal settlements
  • Ancestral hydro-technologies

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

11 pages, 1167 KiB  
Article
Governance and Practices for Achieving Sustainable and Resilient Urban Water Services
by Jyrki Laitinen, Tapio S. Katko, Jarmo J. Hukka, Petri Juuti and Riikka Juuti
Water 2022, 14(13), 2009; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/w14132009 - 23 Jun 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1869
Abstract
Urban water services can be considered a part of municipal services, including the technical solution from water source to water treatment and distribution, and also wastewater collection, treatment, and discharge back to natural waters. The main aspect is how comprehensive water services concerning [...] Read more.
Urban water services can be considered a part of municipal services, including the technical solution from water source to water treatment and distribution, and also wastewater collection, treatment, and discharge back to natural waters. The main aspect is how comprehensive water services concerning the whole society should be considered in urban development. This article emphasizes the necessary role of water services in community technical services and analyzes its critical functions. To keep urban water services on a sound environmental and health level even in externally or internally changing situations is considered sustainable and resilient. In our study, we used sequential PESTEL SWOT analysis to review the results of previous studies. The conclusions and recommendations are based on practices and governance of urban water services in Finland. Furthermore, the significance of water services for the economic development of a community cannot be ignored. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Water and Human Settlements of the Future)
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23 pages, 6495 KiB  
Article
Assessing the Inclusion of Water Circularity Principles in Environment-Related City Concepts Using a Bibliometric Analysis
by Ana Catarina Miranda, Teresa Fidélis, Peter Roebeling and Inês Meireles
Water 2022, 14(11), 1703; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/w14111703 - 25 May 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2040
Abstract
Cities face increasing water pressure and supply issues, jeopardizing the balance between growth and sustainable water resource use. Green, resilient, smart, circular, blue, water sensitive, or water-wise city concepts are increasingly part of the design of strategies to rethink cities. These concepts have [...] Read more.
Cities face increasing water pressure and supply issues, jeopardizing the balance between growth and sustainable water resource use. Green, resilient, smart, circular, blue, water sensitive, or water-wise city concepts are increasingly part of the design of strategies to rethink cities. These concepts have motivated many studies, but little is known about their relative relevance among the scientific community and how they consider water circularity. The objective of this study is to assess how these city concepts incorporate water circularity principles. The assessment is based on a bibliometric analysis of scientific articles recently published. The findings show that despite the wide number of articles dedicated to the various city concepts, water circularity-related challenges are still a small niche of concern, strongly driven by European authors. Moreover, our study showed that water circularity principles are not equally considered among the different city concepts. This uneven assimilation of principles in influential city concepts unveiled gaps regarding water circularity. This brings a new perspective to the use of more integrated definitions, highlighting the importance of such principles in the future use of these concepts when envisioning roadmaps toward sustainable water use in cities. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Water and Human Settlements of the Future)
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17 pages, 4338 KiB  
Article
Continuous Simulation of Highly Urbanized Watershed to Quantify Nutrients’ Loadings
by Naila Mahdi and Krishna R. Pagilla
Water 2021, 13(20), 2910; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/w13202910 - 16 Oct 2021
Viewed by 1800
Abstract
The United States has witnessed various extreme land use changes over the years. These changes led to alterations in watersheds’ characteristics, impacting their water quality and quantity. To quantify this impact in highly urbanized watersheds such as the Chicago Metropolitan Area, it is [...] Read more.
The United States has witnessed various extreme land use changes over the years. These changes led to alterations in watersheds’ characteristics, impacting their water quality and quantity. To quantify this impact in highly urbanized watersheds such as the Chicago Metropolitan Area, it is crucial to examine the characteristics and imperviousness distribution of urban land uses and available point and non-point sources. In this paper, the effect of urban runoff and nutrient loadings to water bodies in the Chicago River Watershed resulting from level (III) detailed urban land uses is investigated. A watershed scale hydrologic and water quality simulation using BASINS/HSPF model was developed for the highly urbanized watershed. Appropriate considerations were given to the effective impervious area (EIA). The results from the five-year calibrated water quality simulation were reasonably reflected with observed data in the study area and nutrient loadings of both point and non-point sources for 44 different land uses were found. The export coefficients (EC) values obtained are site-specific depending on conditions and variables at the watershed level such as physical characteristics, land use management practices, hydro-meteorological and topographical data, while using a continuous simulation approach and watershed perspective analysis. This is the first attempt to measure and model nutrients’ loadings using detailed land use types in the Chicago River Watershed. The proposed continuous calibrated and validated model can be used in the investigation and analysis of different scenarios and possible future conditions and land utilization. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Water and Human Settlements of the Future)
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16 pages, 1104 KiB  
Article
Biofunctionalization of Cork with Moringa oleifera Seeds and Use of PMA Staining and qPCR to Detect Viability of Escherichia coli
by Nury Infante, Refugio Rodríguez, Yaneth Bartolo, Olga Sánchez, Isabel Sanz, Lizeth Bermeo and Jordi Morató
Water 2021, 13(19), 2731; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/w13192731 - 02 Oct 2021
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2590
Abstract
Cork matrices biofunctionalized with Moringa oleifera seed extracts (MoSe) have potential for use as a biofilter with antibacterial properties to reduce waterborne pathogens. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of cork biofunctionalized with active antimicrobial compounds of [...] Read more.
Cork matrices biofunctionalized with Moringa oleifera seed extracts (MoSe) have potential for use as a biofilter with antibacterial properties to reduce waterborne pathogens. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of cork biofunctionalized with active antimicrobial compounds of MoSe (f-cork) on the inhibition of Escherichia coli (InhEc). The LacZ gene from a strain of E. coli was used as the target sequence using viability quantification Polymerase Chain Reaction (qPCR) and differentiation of viable and dead bacteria through selective cell viability PMA staining. To perform this, a 27−4 fractional factorial design and a biofiltration system were used to evaluate the effect of the active protein in MoSe immobilized in granulated cork on InhEc. We found that the potential for antimicrobial activity increased with f-cork for an effective maximal bacterial reduction (99.99%; p < 0.05). The effect of f-cork functionalized with MoSe on E. coli viability was of 0.024% and 0.005% for the cells exposed to PMA, respectively, being the relevant conditions in treatment 2: (0 L/min) without aeration, (5%) MoSe and (5 mm) cork particle. In conclusion, the f-cork functionalized with MoSe presented biosorbent and antibacterial properties that effectively reduced the E. coli growth. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Water and Human Settlements of the Future)
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