Flood protection

In the new district ‘Kop Zuidas’, water green strip is created along the sidewalk in which stormwater is temporarily stored by means of high-grade vegetation and a drainage system. The stormwater slowly infiltrates into the soil and only reaches the sewage system in case of extremely heavy rainfall. It is a pilot project for stormwater retention and will be upscaled throughout Amsterdam when successful. (1,2)

Belfast is located within the River Lagan Catchment and is at risk from flash floods caused by storm water unable to drain away into the combined storm and sewerage network. The Local Development Plan will facilitate the development of green infrastructure resource or ecosystem services such as the green wedges in Lagan Valley Regional Park (ref 2). Lagan Canal is one of the emerging partnership projects to produce plans to restore and revitalise the Lagan Canal corridor. The river Lagan and the canal is an asset for the city, and for the wider region (Ref 1).

The renaturalization of streams is a common strategy for improving the ecological quality of water bodies as mandated by the European Water Directive. For that reason, parts of the Aa stream in Münster upstream until its flow into the Aa lake covering 2.6 km were renaturalized from 2012 to 2013. Renaturalization is a means to restore the natural river banks, local ecosystems of the Aa rive and improve the water quality of the Aa lake (Ref. 1 and 3).

'Blok 54' is a new building on the city island IJburg in Amsterdam, on which a green roof and rain garden were be created in which stormwater can flow from the green roof through a groove with diverse vegetation, reflecting a natural creek. The vegetation with fruit bushes serves as a sensory garden for poly handicapped children and the creek flows into bioswales through which can slowly infiltrate. Blok 54 can thereby be considered an ECOcity-garden. (1,3)

Grangetown is the site for a flagship environmental programme to tackle flood risk and water waste (ref 5). This scheme catches, cleans and diverts rainwater directly into the River Taff instead of pumping it over 8 kilometres to the sea. It will make Grangetown a greener, cleaner place and enhance local biodiversity (ref 2). Every year more than 40,000m³ of rainwater is diverted from entering the combined sewer network (ref 1). Interventions include planters, swales, bio-retention ponds, permeable paving and curb drainage, making use of the existing streetscape. 108 rain gardens have been created, and 130 trees have been planted; the area has been deemed the 1st "bicycle street" in Wales (ref 8). Wider benefits include education, health, well-being (ref 1).

Forests fulfil several important climate functions, they are carbon sinks, regulate the local climate or buffer heatwaves and cloudbursts. Based on climate projections, longer dry periods are to be expected during summer months which have major implications for local humid forests. The “fit for climate change” project was initiated to develop and implement climate adaptation measures for the latter, for instance via hydrological regulation, the use and reinstatement of resilient, adapted tree species or revitalizing moors and swamps. It was administered by the regional forestry authority and the nature conservation station Münster (Ref. 1 and 2).

The Restoration of degraded wetlands in Wolfschlugen (in the administrative district of Stuttgart) was conducted within the wider regional level of sustainable urban development to enhance resilience, protect the city from flooding, support sustainable development, and safeguard biodiversity. Ditches and craters line the 700 metres long and 50 - 70 metres wide strip of landscape northeast of the development boundary behind the Wolfschlugen forest cemetery. This is formed by the Riederwiesen, which absorb water to protect the place from flooding. The wetland should protect people at least during a so-called hundred-year flood and at the same time offer animals and plants a habitat. (ref 3, 11)

A long-awaited flood defence scheme which is designed to protect the city from a repeat of the devastating floods in 2007. "The ambitious project has taken 14 years of planning" and will protect the city's gateway (Westgate). The project manager from EA, said: "The work we're doing on the Ings Beck scheme will mean Wakefield is protected against the kind of flood that only has a one in 100 chance of happening in a year." The scheme involves solving the flooding problem and encourage wildlife habitat. (Ref. 1)

Bute Park is a riverside green spot with an arboretum and gardens, containing a broad range of ecosystems supporting a wide variety of living species (ref 4). The historic Mill Leat had been dry since the 1970s."The word "leat" refers to "an open watercourse conducting water to a mill". The Mill Leat sits on the same site as a former millpond at the end of the original medieval millstream. It supplied water to corn mills located to the south of the Wst Gate and contained water well into the 1970s." (Ref 10) .Mill Leat Restoration or the re-flooding of the dry water body was a major deliverable under the Bute Park Restoration project (ref 2). In 2013 the overgrown channel was excavated, lined and refilled with water as part of the Bute Park Restoration Project (Ref 2). It enhanced the character of the park and provided a new habitat for wildlife (ref 1). Now re-flooded, Mill Leat is self-contained, self-regulating and self-circulating. It has reduced the risk of flooding and created a sustainable water feature (ref 2).

The Park Killesberg serves as the green centre of the newly constructed district in Stuttgart and continues the long history of the area as a garden show site with a contemporary expression of landscape architecture and as a model for interconnected green spaces. The design is the result of a collaborative process with the local authorities, citizens and neighbours (1).