Scientific Evidence behind the Ecosystem Services Provided by Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems

Ana Isabel Abellán García and Juan C. Santamarta
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Ana Isabel Abellán García: Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingeniería de Montes, Forestal y del Medio Natural, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM), 28040 Madrid, Spain
Juan C. Santamarta: Departamento de Ingeniería Agraria y del Medio Natural, Universidad de La Laguna (ULL), 38206 Tenerife, Spain

Land, 2022, vol. 11, issue 7, 1-32

Abstract: Urban green infrastructure such as sustainable urban drainage systems are potential providers of ecosystem services. This paper reviews the field studies that empirically verify the potential benefits of SUDS. The cultural, provisioning, supporting, and regulating ecosystem services investigated in real cases have been studied and classified according to climatology (except for the control of urban hydrology, which has been widely corroborated). Although successful cases of runoff decontamination are numerous, there is heterogeneity in the results of the systems beyond those associated with climatic differences. The other ecosystem services have not been as widely studied, giving very variable and even negative results in some cases such as climate change control (in some instances, these techniques can emit greenhouse gases). Installations in temperate climates are, by far, the most studied. These services derive from the biological processes developed in green infrastructure and they depend on climate, so it would be advisable to carry out specific studies that could serve as the basis for a design that optimizes potential ecosystem services, avoiding possible disservices.

Keywords: ecosystem services; sustainable urban drainage systems; urban green infrastructure; climate change; urban biodiversity; urban ecology; stormwater quality (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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