The PSR-based approach to categorize an urban drainage basin

Abstract

This research aims to develop a PSR-based categorization method for an urban drainage basin. A dramatic increase in urban flooding in the era of climate change is a global phenomenon. Recently, a range of efforts have been made to overcome extreme urban flooding with the concepts of Low Impact Development (LID) and Korea's Total Urban Flood Mitigation Strategy (TUMS). Both the TUMS and LID concepts recognize a limited role of traditional, structural hazard mitigation measures in coping effectively with the flooding problem, and emphasize the emerging role of urban planning and design. Given that, various urban design techniques have been introduced to minimize the volume of urban runoff, to enhance rainwater holding capacity in urban areas and to control the speed of urban runoff, etc. These techniques are to be applied in consideration of any physical and sociocultural characteristics of the urban drainage basin. And, the urban drainage basin is to be categorized into different types based on hydrologic characteristics of the basin, such as slope, shape, and soil type, and also on sociocultural ones, such as population density and land use. The lack of a scientific approach to identify different types of urban basin in consideration of sociocultural factors, however, makes the urban planning or design measures to be strategically applied throughout the urban area. This research proposes a new identification or categorization method based on TUMS' PSR, which refers points, sites, and regions, respectively. This PSR-based identification method is designed to help to establish local context-based flooding hazard mitigation goals and strategies and also place the right countermeasures in the right place, resulting in the enhancement of the efficiency and effectiveness of the current urban planning or design measures. © 2014 WIT Press.