Spatial consequences of circular water systems: Strategies for urban areas in the Netherlands
Student: Kjell Wansleeben
Mentors: Kristel Aalbers, L. Scholten, E.M. van Bueren
Program: MSc Urbanism
Graduation date: 29-11-2016
Abstract
A transition to a circular use of resources is becoming increasingly important in all fields of research, including the management of water in urban environments. With the current linear system valuable resources are lost. In addition, a circular system can contribute to the processing of the expected increasing intensity of precipitation. The consequences for the spatial quality, when a circular concept is applied to the urban water system are however still unknown. This research is therefore aimed to determine these consequences with a focus on storm water handling, and recommend suitable storm water handling strategies. The question is how a transition to circular storm water management influences the quality of public spaces in residential areas in the Netherlands? This research is meant for designers, planners, and policy makers whose difficult task it is to make trade‐offs between entangled interests, a wide variety of conditions and measures with different positive and negative consequences. Due to the complexity of the problem it is difficult to sensibly evaluate different alternatives. Therefore the Multi Criteria Decision Making framework has been applied throughout this research. This methodology can be structured in four steps following the decision analytic theory from Keeney (1992). (1) Structuring of the decision problem, (2) Assessment of the impact of alternatives, (3) Determine the preferences of decision‐makers, and (4) Evaluation and comparison of alternatives.