Stormwater management and urban planning: Lessons from 40 years of innovation

Abstract

Urban planning is widely advocated as an important way to encourage the more sustainable management of urban stormwater, using alternatives to piped systems. This paper explores the way in which Swedish water professionals have opportunities to influence stormwater planning and the barriers that limit their participation in this process. Empirical evidence has been obtained from in-depth semi-structured interviews with urban water professionals from nine Swedish municipalities. The paper shows that there is a perception of the legal requirements related to the provision of drainage services that inhibits the utilisation of non-piped solutions. There are also reservations about a dichotomy that inhibits actions – is stormwater an issue for the planning department or for the water department? It is concluded that water professionals have unique opportunities to integrate stormwater management approaches within wider urban planning practice and, hence, are able to encourage the use of alternative systems that are more sustainable than using traditional pipes or sewers.

Keywords:

• barriers and opportunities
• interviews
• planning approaches
• planning practice
• urban stormwater planning

Notes

1. SuDS are ‘sustainable drainage systems’; BMPs are ‘Best Management Practices’; LIDs are ‘low impact developments’ and WSUD ‘Water Sensitive Urban Design’ (Ashley et al. 2011).