Green Infrastructure: understanding its role in mitigating current and future flood risk in urban areas

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In England alone, 3.2 million households are located in areas at risk of surface water flooding, with annual damages exceeding £300 million. It is projected that this cost of associated damage could increase by 40% by the 2050s.Green infrastructure (GI) can provide a means of reducing the amount of water entering drainage systems via infiltration, interception, transpiration and providing both temporary and more longer-term storage. Evidence is needed to understand how, where and when GI aids flood risk mitigation over time and space.This project will consider the following research questions:* How can we better represent the structure and function of green infrastructure in our flood risk impact models?* How can we design green infrastructure into the existing urban fabric to maximise benefits and reduce costs? * How effective will green infrastructure be as a flood mitigation measure under future climate?This project will conduct a number of controlled experiments at the National Green Infrastructure Facility and at locations of different GI types across the city. Observations will then be used to inform a reliable and robust physically-based infiltration component in CityCAT, a hydrodynamic model capable of simulating flood risk, and the role of GI in mitigating that risk at high resolutions over large spatial domains. Outcomes from this project will include improved understanding of GI performance; assess long-term performance and costs of GI, including management and maintenance; and aid design of future GI strategies to mitigate climate-induced flood risk in urban areas.