Rethinking Infrastructure Design - Rethinking Infrastructure Design for Multi-Use Water Services - page 1

Chapter 1
Rethinking Infrastructure Design

Abstract For the s population will be

living in urban areas. Cities offer enormous opportunities, but they also create
problems that degrade the environment, thus the quality of life in the city, sur-
rounding suburban areas and downstream settlements. By 2030, it is projected that
4.9 billion people will be living in cities. Managing it in a sustainable way provides
a unique opportunity. The objectives of water management in urban areas are to
ensure that no damage is caused during extreme participation and that long periods
of droughts do not cause problems in cities or the countryside. The Blue Green
Dream project promotes a new paradigm for ef

first time in history, more than half the world '

cient planning and management of
the urban environment. This volume introduces the methods by which mutual
interactions of urban water infrastructure (blue assets) and urban vegetated areas
(green assets) are taken into account in the synergy of spatial planning and opti-
mised modelling of ecosystems

performance indicators. This method of planning
should make future developments cheaper to build, their users will pay lower utility
bills (for water, energy, heating), such developments will be more pleasant to live in
and property value would likely be higher.

'

Keyword Multiple-Use Water Services Blue services Climate change Green

services MillenniumDevelopment Goals Pluvial flooding SUDS UHI WSUD

1 Introduction

We are reaching the milestone: for the first time in history, more than half the
world`s population will be living in urban areas. Cities offer enormous opportu-
nities, but they also create problems that degrade the environment thus the quality
of life in the city, surrounding suburban areas and downstream settlements.
Humanity is rapidly urbanising. While globally only 220 million people (13 %)
lived in urban areas in 1900, this increased to 3.2 billion (49 %) by 2005 and is
projected to reach 4.9 billion (60 %) by 2030. If we consider those numbers, we
will have major increases in urbanisation as cities become settlements for a majority