Free access to a new article about residential infill

A new research article explores how architectural design and water servicing technologies affect the water performance of residential infill.

More than half of new urban residential developments in Australia’s major cities are planned as infill. This trend is an opportunity to use innovative housing designs and water servicing technology to address urban water challenges such as flooding, reduced water security and related infrastructure and urban heat issues.

A recent study examined 2 questions:

What influence does residential infill development have on the local urban water cycle?

What roles to architectural design and technologies play?

It found:

• Business-as-usual infill development severely increases stormwater discharge (44%) and imported water (85%).
• Alternative architectural designs can achieve a 141% increase in population density while increasing stormwater discharge by only 21% and imported water by 64%.
• Architectural design is up to 3 times more influential than water servicing technologies.

The study authors were part of the CRC for Water Sensitive Cities’ Integrated Research Project 4 (Water sensitive outcomes for infill developments).

Water Sensitive Cities Australia partners and participants have 50 days free access to the article here.