Green Infrastructure for Water Security-Based Urban Planning: A Comparative Analysis of Systemic Urban Plans and Spatial Flood-based GI Priority Layouts in Monterrey and Brussels

The significance of water security (WS) has been underlined throughout the world reinforcing the necessity for adaptable planning. In light of the increasing environmental uncertainties observed in urbanized areas, there exists a critical need for urban planners to embrace more comprehensive and adaptable strategies, while also developing innovative tools and methodologies to effectively implement them. In this regard, green infrastructure (GI), as an adaptable urban planning strategy, has the potential to effectively address WS challenges in multiple ways, such as increasing water infiltration and storage capacity, decreasing urban runoff, and enhancing the quality of water resources. However, to promote GI it is required to develop a strong empirical basis to understand the benefits of integrating it in urban water management. Likewise, it is important to prioritize comprehensive spatial planning that considers the diverse range of services provided by nature. This research aims to investigate the complex domain of urban WS, with a particular focus on the potential of GI to effectively tackle these requirements. By incorporating GI into urban planning, it becomes feasible to address water-related difficulties while simultaneously promoting the development of sustainable resilient urban spaces that can persist over long periods of time.By definition, urban planning includes two key dimensions: urban plans and strategies along with spatial planning and analysis. Accordingly, this thesis is divided into two phases each focusing on one key dimension of urban planning. The first phase concentrates on examining the integration of GI interventions within local WS-linked plans. This phase focuses on WS as a whole and makes an effort to increase local understanding of urban planning policies as well as identify strategic areas that require further attention. The second phase takes a step forward toward GI spatial planning by taking into consideration the site-specific ecol
Doctorat en Art de bâtir et urbanisme (Polytechnique)
info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished