The document discusses water sensitive cities and towns. It notes that population growth, climate change, and economic pressures pose challenges for water management. A water sensitive city aims to provide diverse water sources, protect ecosystems, and engage communities in sustainable water practices. Case studies from Hebei Province, China show how urbanization impacts water systems through increased impermeable surfaces and pollution. Strategies proposed include green roofs, permeable paving, rain gardens, and stormwater management to filter and infiltrate water on-site.

1. WATER SENSITIVE
TOWNSHIP

2. WHAT IS WATER SENSITIVE CITY ?
Many cities and towns around the world face three critical challenges in managing
water resources, waterways, river basins and coastal environments, and ultimately
people’s quality of life:
•a rapidly growing population with changing lifestyles and values;
•a changing and highly variable climate; and
•a challenging economic environment.
Population growth increases the pressure on water resources, with water scarcity and
pollution posing the greatest risks.
Climate change is resulting in more extreme weather events such as floods, heatwaves,
bushfires, increasing periods of drought, and more frequent and intense storms and
cyclones that can lead to loss of life while adding extra pressure on our water-related
infrastructure and homes located in vulnerable places. Our urban water systems need
to be resilient enough to anticipate the “shocks” brought on by these increasingly
extreme climate patterns.

3. WHAT IS WATER SENSITIVE CITY ?
Further, when cities and towns are constructed, the natural landscape is dramatically
altered: vegetation and soil are replaced with hard, impervious surfaces and buildings.
This leads to the development of unique urban climates that are quite different from
those of surrounding natural environments. The common results: an increase in air
pollution, modified rainfall patterns, and higher air temperatures.
Lastly, a tightening economic climate favours a focus on cost saving and increased
efficiency, achieved through micro-economic reform. Under these challenging
conditions, delivering innovative solutions – toward creating more water sensitive
cities and towns – is no easy feat.

4. WHAT IS WATER SENSITIVE CITY ?
A vision for a water sensitive city
A water sensitive city of the future is a place where people want to live and work. It is a
place that:
•serves as a potential water supply catchment, providing a range of different water
sources at a range of different scales, and for a range of different uses;
•provides ecosystem services and a healthy natural environment, thereby offering a range
of social, ecological, and economic benefits; and
•consist of water sensitive communities where citizens have the knowledge and desire to
make wise choices about water, are actively engaged in decision-making, and
demonstrate positive behaviours such as conserving water at home and not tipping
chemicals down the drain.

5. WHAT IS WATER SENSITIVE CITY ?
What makes a city water sensitive?
Water is integral to almost every feature of an urban landscape. Our cities and towns
are complex, ever evolving places, and the way we interact with other people
constantly changes too. In a water sensitive city, we interact with the urban water
(hydrological) cycle in ways that:
•provide the water security essential for economic prosperity through efficient use of
diverse available resources;
•enhance and protect the health of waterways and wetlands, the river basins that
surround them, and the coast and bays;
•mitigate flood risk and damage; and
•create public spaces that collect, clean, and recycle water.

6. CASE STUDY 1: Hebei Province , China
The water quality in our site is very important.
Because the site is located in the upstream of
drinking reservoir and surrounded by Tang
tributary junctions.
Tributary map based on GIS topography analysis
shows the potential floods flowing pattern in
this area.

7. CASE STUDY 1: Hebei Province , China
Based on what SPD proposed master plan
for Baihe, we categorized it into three parts
from upstream to downstream, that is
urban, agri, and industry
A design strategy to meet the
development goal and also
minimize the environmental
impact caused by urbanization is
developed based on the context
analysis

8. CASE STUDY 1: Hebei Province , China

9. CASE STUDY 1: Hebei Province , China
Urban Areas Impacts on Water Systems
From a bird’s eye view, urbanization can be identified largely by the replacement of
permeable surfaces with impermeable and high concentrations of humans and natural
resource consumption. These circumstances alter the natural water cycle, drawdown
the water table and pollute waterways leading to many layers of environmental and
ecological impacts and degradation . Urbanization causes pollution of waterways,
flooding and erosion, drawdown of underground aquifers and increases heat island
effect (HIE) . All of these stress the environment leading to environmental and human
health hazards
Concentrations of human beings becomes too great when pollution and waste are
created faster than the environment can absorb them. The dramatic increase in
impermeable surfaces in urban environments leads to urban runoff composed of
sediment, nutrients, bacteria, toxins and metals. Though modern storm water and
sewage systems are for the most part effective in draining surface water away from
infrastructure, the water picks up toxins and pollutants that were not able to infiltrate
into the ground and are carried through sewage systems to waterway.

10. CASE STUDY 1: Hebei Province , China
In addition to enabling the negative impacts of urban runoff, impermeable surfaces
also trap heat whereas permeable surfaces and green space absorb heat and provide a
cooling effect. Without the natural cooling effects of green space, heat is trapped
leading to a possible increase of 22 degrees Fahrenheit in built urban areas versus less
built rural areas . Increased temperatures lead to increased demand for electricity to
cool buildings. Production of this electricity provides even more pollution to be carried
over impermeable surfaces by storm water to waterways. It’s a dirty cycle that only
gets worse as urbanization increases.

11. CASE STUDY 1: Hebei Province , China
The existing hydrology in SPD’s plan is pretty simple with three bio-swales following the
existing tributary. Based on their plan, a more detailed and complicated storm water
management system is created within each block to treat run-off on site and release the
pressure on bio swales to make it more resilien

12. CASE STUDY 1: Hebei Province , China

13. CASE STUDY 1: Hebei Province , China
Rainwater Gardens:
Rainwater gardens address a multitude of urban problems while
functioning as an aesthetically pleasing landscape and matrix of
habitats for native plants, animals and migrating species. This
technology addresses all of the major urban problems of runoff and
erosion caused by impermeable surfaces, diminishing groundwater
and pollution of waterways.
Green Roofs
Green roofs have seen a surge in popularity in highly concentrated
urban environments around the world and have benefited from
creative and unique innovations. This technology is multifunctional,
it reduces landfill waste by improving the lifespan of building
materials and using waste as an input, reducing demand for
electricity, mitigating urban heat island effect (UHI), increasing
biodiversity and providing mental restoration for urbanites15

14. SWATI R. THAKUR l M.ARCH, 3rd SEM l URBAN DESIGN STUDIO -3 l SPA,UOM
CASE STUDY 1: Hebei Province , China
Permeable Paving:
Unlike impermeable pavement, permeable pavement is designed
specifically to allow infiltration of water to the ground below by its
unique base and substrate construction23. Permeable pavement is
currently most suitable for areas with light traffic such as sidewalks,
emergency roads, parking lots, bike paths, etc. As parking lots are
often places with high toxins including oil, gas and heavy metal
particles, this is a particularly important place to not allow for urban
runoff. Border phytoremediation is an important addition to areas
using impermeable pavement
Water will be infiltrated from the green roof and could be collected in permeable
paving or rain garden if it overflows. Rain garden can retain and filter rainwater on
site and perform educational demonstration site for the community. An
underground detention structure is created in case rain garden overflows and it
could help detain water and convey it to the bio swale after the rain event, where
rainwater will be treated before it flows to the river

15. CASE STUDY 1: Hebei Province , China

16. SWATI R. THAKUR l M.ARCH, 3rd SEM l URBAN DESIGN STUDIO -3 l SPA,UOM
CASE STUDY 1: Hebei Province , China
Water Site Analysis and Opportunities
Water: The majority of the pollutants from the site are coming from the cement
industry wastewater runoff. While the cement factory remains open, there needs to
be wastewater treatment facilities. To cleanse pollutants from denuded slopes of
closed mines, stormwater technologies should be installed in appropriate locations to
increase infiltration and filter water before it enters the Tangxian watershed system.

17. CASE STUDY 1: Hebei Province , China
Air Site Analysis and Opportunities
Air: Cement kilns produce large amounts of greenhouse gases, heavy metals, and
particulate matter into the air. SO2, NO2 and PM levels in Baihe are higher than the
EPA minimum standards and are potentially very dangerous to human health. These
pollutants may be present in the soil and may require techniques such as amendment,
removal, cleansing, or phytoremediation techniques for sequestration, extraction, or
volatilization.