Water Sensitive Urban Design

By creating 'water sensitive cities' it is possible to address the major challenges of water shortage, flooding and pollution. This film, commissioned by the Landscape Institute and based on work by CIRIA, Arup and AECOM, explains the concept of Water Sensitive Urban Design (WSUD) and argues the case for designing 'with' water when planning any new development.

WSUD is an integrated solution to flooding, droughts and water quality, which promotes a more rational and frugal use of water alongside the creation of beautiful and resilient places. WSUD is about looking beyond the idea that a pipe in the ground is the best option for dealing with rain water -- it is about prioritising all elements of the water cycle when designing and developing new places. WSUD reduces flooding, harnesses the potential of flood water, cuts the demand for potable water and improves water quality -- all measures which make the water supply chain more sustainable.

[diggerbarnes]

Like the 'Green Infrastructure' video, also commissioned by the Landscape Institute, this is a first rate graphical communication video for raising awareness of these simple but important issues. Keep up the great work LI!

[confinez]

Excellent!! This mades much more easier to understand

[marlonchristie]

Grate sustainable plan, this may help to reduce water wastage. All countries should implement such practices.
I know some hotels in Jamaica and around the world have introduced water recycling  which is used to water the landscape, and also recycling plastics. But on the other hand, it would be cool to see this implemented in homes.

[somnathsen]

excellent video for explanation to all cross section of people in developing country like india. how do I get a copy of such video. Prof Somnath Sen, IIT Kharagpur, India

[Poochielanga]

Lots of great ideas, but changing aging infrastructure is your best bet. Getting these ideas into new buildings often are the first to be value engineered out.

[knobber]

we've known all this for years and yet 99.9% new developments are still built with no solar panels, no green roofs, no rainwater harvesting, no meaningful habitat loss mitigation, etc - I'm not hopeful.

[mylesgrieve]

This stuff isn't expensive if you're smart about it.

[cleanthames]

It's beggars belief that London is about to miss out on a once-in-a-generation opportunity to apply all the good, common sense measures explained in this video by allowing the offshore financiers who run Thames Water to plonk £4.2bn of *our* (not their!) money down the super-sewer.

If you don't agree to have your wallet and environment robbed in this way, please sign our petition - search for "Stop the Thames Water Rip-Off"