Antje Backhaus

Stormwater management challenges as revealed through a design experiment with professional landscape architects

Despite a number of potential benefits, using the urban landscape for managing stormwater runoff is spreading rather slowly. As urban planners and landscape architects are considered key protagonists of this trend, the objective of the study was to identify the challenges they confront when asked to retrofit an urban landscape for the management of stormwater runoff. Monitoring a two-week design experiment involving six teams of professional landscape architects identified 11 challenges, including sizing of elements, estimating costs, understanding water dynamics, aspects of biodiversity promotion, and dealing with land administrations and ownership issues. Measures to address the challenges are discussed. It should be noted that all six teams approached the stormwater management challenge in an energetic and focused way, applying their technical, personal and site-specific knowledge, and delivered innovative, flexible and coherent solutions. This emphasizes that the design process constitutes a strong and unique problem solving tool.

The aesthetic performance of urban landscape-based stormwater management systems: a review of twenty projects in Northern Europe

Abstract Driven by the challenge of adapting cities to climate change, stormwater management is high on the agenda of landscape architectural practice. This article aims to set light on associated landscape changes, presenting and evaluating twenty Northern European stormwater management projects with a specific view on their aesthetic performance. Five key parameters form the base for the analysis. These include 1) terrain changes, 2) construction and maintenance, 3) site history and context, 4) water dynamics and dimensioning, and 5) stormwater accentuation. Observations are illustrated by exemplary photos, arranged and discussed among varying cases. The study indicates that visible stormwater management enhances the experience of local terrain. However, stormwater management is weak as a main design feature and staging water ‘at any cost’ results in unsettled designs. Successful projects include only a few key water features and focus on programmatic interaction within the specific context.

Analyzing the First Loop Design Process for Large-Scale Sustainable Urban Drainage System Retrofits in Copenhagen, Denmark

Sustainable urban drainage systems (SUDS) receive much attention as a means to adapt urban environments to a changing climate. Yet little knowledge exists on how to adapt existing urban drainage systems by use of SUDS at the scale of entire sewer-sheds. This paper aims to assist landscape architects, engineers, and planners in the design of large-scale SUDS retrofits. It analyzes the first loop in an exemplary design process for SUDS retrofits in a 15 km2 case-study area in Copenhagen, Denmark. A series of ‘insights’ and ‘set backs’ are revealed in the process and discussed in their importance for a successful design. The two most important aspects are identified as the need to develop context specific solutions and the utilization of underlying hydrological conditions as generator of urban form.