Advances in Sustainable Drainage Systems and Stormwater Control Measures

Dear Colleagues,

Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS) and Stormwater Control Measures (SCMs) are popular engineering and landscaping techniques used to manage stormwater in urban and rural environments, as well as in transport infrastructures. SuDS/SCMs have been adopted under the framework of green infrastructure (GI) and nature-based solution (NbS) programs worldwide, with the objectives to foster climate change mitigation and reduce vulnerability towards unpredictable challenges and uncontrolled urbanization.

While SuDS/SCMs have gained considerable attention between academics and practitioners in the past two decades, as can be drawn from the scientific literature, there are still several fields in need of further research. This Special Issue targets emerging challenges and areas of interest in SuDS/SCMs, such as those outlined below:

• Advancements in construction, operation, and maintenance techniques.
• Optimizing SuDS/SCM design.
• New laboratory simulations for SuDS/SCM hydrological and water quality performance, contributing to internationally standardized tests.
• The development of comprehensive methodologies for SuDS/SCM modelling, helping inform operation and maintenance practices.
• The assessment of the end-of-life concept for SuDS/SCMs, feeding from the long-term monitoring of field practices, life-cycle costs, and real-time data.
• The impact of climate change on SuDS/SCMs’ performance, planning, and regulations.
• Innovative monitoring techniques.
• Lessons learnt from implementation programs and field experiences.
• SuDS/SCMs’ treatment efficiency for new and emerging pollutants.
• The development of assessment tools to analyse the multiple benefits of SuDS/SCMs.
• Overcoming barriers for SuDS/SCM adoption.
• Understanding amenity through participatory methods and social perception.
• Creating discussions for SuDS/SCMs to be considered as stormwater heritage techniques in the future, learning from historical and past stormwater practices, and providing tools and criteria.
• The inclusion of SuDS/SCMs in higher-education programs, contemplating cross-disciplinarity approaches and fostering overarching skills.
• SuDS/SCMs’ resilience to unexpected challenges (e.g., pandemics, flooding events, etc.).
• Virtual reality, digital twins, and building information modelling applications in SuDS/SCMs.
• AI modelling and machine learning methods for the simulation and processing of the observed data.

This Special Issue aims to gather the latest advancements in SuDS/SCMs, identifying and bridging the research gaps, whilst proposing future lines of research for extensive development in the field.

Dr. Luis A. Sañudo-Fontaneda
Dr. Cristina Allende-Prieto
Dr. Jorge Roces-García
Guest Editors

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