Maximising urban green infrastructure for surface water flood management: an evidence-based approach

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Urban flooding is caused by heavy rainfall and is a growing global challenge. Many cities are rethinking their approach to flood risk management by using green infrastructure (GI) and Nature-based Solutions (NbS) to complement traditional hard engineered approaches. GI, NbS and Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS) are a series of innovative and novel solutions and/or techniques to bring hydrological responses closer to pre-urbanised conditions. It is often difficult to determine the effectiveness of SuDS and this depends on both the magnitude of storm events and the spatial scale of the intervention. Further, monitoring of the successes and failures of SuDS schemes is not routinely conducted. Thus, it can be difficult to determine whether SuDS provide a sustainable solution to manage urban flooding. We need to collect a strong evidence base to maximise urban green infrastructure. This IAPETUS2 PhD project will address this critical research gap through the development of pioneering solutions to answer critical research questions within the field of green infrastructure and urban flood risk management. This PhD project will focus on the collection, analysis and interpretation of fieldmonitored data to assess and maximise bioretention performance of green infrastructure. The project will involve the design, commissioning and analysis of novel laboratory and field experiments based at Heriot-Watt University Edinburgh campus and within the City of Edinburgh. The PhD will also leverage two fullycommissioned, state-of-the-art instrumented vegetated bioretention cell lysimeters based at the UKCRIC National Green Infrastructure Facility (NGIF), with the opportunity to conduct discrete experimental tests on these systems. Further, there is scope to complement and upscale field approaches using hydraulic-hydrological modelling approaches (i.e. SWMM, HYDRUS-1D, etc.) to understand the impact of NbS at larger scales. This project will focus predominantly on the attenuation of surface water flows (i.e. flood risk reduction), but the project may also consider the influence of SuDS on water quality, biodiversity and public amenity. The successful candidate will be based at Heriot-Watt University's Edinburgh campus and will be required to visit the NGIF in Newcastle-upon-Tyne for experimental monitoring, maintenance and data collection approximately every 2- months. There will be opportunities to collaborate with international stakeholders and partners to realise the potential of NbS within different regions/climates.