Contact person
Björn Schouenborg
Filosofie doktor
Contact Björn
Climate-adapted urban runoff management in Uppsala
Climate change places new demands on municipal urban runoff management. Uppsala’s newly established Rosendal district has been home to the testing of innovative full-scale blue/green/grey solutions – solutions that can handle torrential rain, purify water and improve the urban vegetation environment.
“This way, even heavy rain is a resource,” explains Johan Eriksson, an environmental strategist at Uppsala Municipality.
In southeastern Uppsala, slowly but surely, the new district of Rosendal is emerging, a modern and dense urban structure with multiple functions. However, it is not only that which is above ground that is innovative in Rosendal – hidden below our feet are brand-new solutions.
“In Rosendal, we wanted to create a multi-purpose urban runoff solution,” says Johan Eriksson. “In the wake of climate change, we’ll need to manage larger amounts of water on single occasions, and we’ll need more urban greenery to provide more shade and thereby lower temperatures.”
Accordingly, the new blue/green/grey solutions are about not only being able to divert and purify large amounts of water, but also creating the opportunity to delay and collect water in an orderly manner so as to be able to use it as a water reservoir for urban vegetation.
“This way, there’s no need to go around watering because the systems are largely self-sufficient.”
Interdisciplinary project
However, building brand-new technical solutions in which, for example, water is stored under roads and other hardened surfaces is not entirely easy. Uppsala Municipality has not been alone in this endeavour though, as it has been part of a Vinnova-funded project on sustainable and multifunctional urban runoff structures. Björn Schouenborg, a senior researcher at RISE, has been the project manager.
“We’ve been able to gather an extremely broad interdisciplinary team, enabling us to support the development of various opportunities,” he says.
I’d say that this holistic approach is what’s truly innovative
Both technical solutions and amended regulations
Many of the project partners have also been directly involved in the Rosendal project, allowing them to simultaneously develop and use this new knowledge.
“This way, we’ve been able to see the entire chain, and we’ve not only created new technical solutions, but also been able to work with, for example, policy and regulatory amendments that have enabled us to implement the innovations, despite the fact that they weren’t encompassed by the existing regulations.”
For example, it has been difficult to get contractors and property owners to accept extended guarantees for the new systems, quite simply because they have not been tested before.
“Here at the municipality, we’ve had to assume responsibility, and in this sense, it’s been good to have all the experts working within the Vinnova project behind us,” says Eriksson.
“I’d say that this holistic approach is what’s truly innovative, and RISE has managed to engage all the necessary experts.”
The construction work in Rosendal continues, but the new solutions are also starting to be implemented in other parts of the municipality, Eriksson explains.
“Something quite unique about Uppsala is that our fresh water is sourced from the groundwater, and so all this new construction is taking place on top of that source. It’s really great that the new solutions enable us to reduce the level of pollutants in both the groundwater and the Fyris river, and we’re continually evaluating their performance on a daily basis. The technology is maturing, and any new constructions will include this type of urban runoff solution.”
