New journal article: Can we model the implementation of water sensitive urban design in evolving cities?

One of the CRC for Water Sensitive Cities computer-based modelling products, the Urban Biophysical Environments And Technologies Simulator (UrbanBEATS), has been tested in an historic case study on a Melbourne catchment.

UrbanBEATS simulates the planning, design and implementation of water sensitive urban design (WSUD) infrastructure in urban environments, generating realisations of different WSUD interventions and their evolution over time.

A research paper on the case study was published in a recent edition Water Science and Technology by Dr Peter Bach, Dr David McCarthy and Professor Ana Deletic as part of research outcomes for the Cities as Water Supply Catchments – Sustainable Technologies project (Project C1.1).

UrbanBEATS was tested for the first time in a case study of Scotchman’s Creek catchment in eastern Melbourne, Victoria, using historical data such as planning documents and urban development information and potential future legislative changes to model patterns of uptake of specific WSUD technologies.

To simulate the historical development of WSUD within the 10km2 catchment, six specific years from 1972 through to 2013 were chosen as milestones and technology types including wetlands, ponds, swales and biofilters enabled as modelling options. Results showed some disparity between observed and model frequencies of wetlands, ponds and swales across milestone years but highlighted “that the general patterns can be reproduced with careful training and more complete data”.

“Understanding how to adapt and plan around existing WSUD infrastructure to address changes in the urban environment (e.g. changing policy, climate and/or land use) is crucial,” the authors state.

“As such, there is a need for an integrated model that will allow planners to explore different storylines or ‘narratives’ of how WSUD infrastructure could change through time.”

Read the full article:

Bach, P. M., Mccarthy, D. T., & Deletic, A. (2015). Can we model the implementation of water sensitive urban design in evolving cities? Water science and technology: a journal of the International Association on Water Pollution Research, 71(1), 149-156.