The role of plants in green infrastructure in situ management of urban water and the expirience of the city of Berlin, Germany

Abstract

The future of cities throughout the world depends on the management of climate change and its effects on the environment, based on a new concept of infrastructure ranging from the municipal level to the national, and where the management of sewer and rainwaters are integrated into other urban infrastructures. In Germany, starting in the decade of the 1970s, rainwater management methods had come to consider Eco-friendly practices, the effects of hydrologic cycles within cities, and green technologies. The use of plants as an alternative technology for the treatment of greywater and rainwater had been employed in the country since the 1990s. Having observed the effects that a combined sewage/drainage system had upon the quality of local waters and urban microclimate, new research began in the 2000s, and efforts were turned towards a paradigm shift in urban development which considered the precipitation, infiltration and evaporation of rainwaters in situ. In the city of Berlin, one can observe many such actions involving in situ water management.The Berlin Senate's Department for Urban Development and the Environment today offers a digital platform with technical information and tools to help in the planning and construction of green infrastructure. Also, new buildings with green technologies are being implanted all throughout the city as part of the Urban Ecology Model Projects program. This present project has as its objective the augmentation of my current graduate research results, and the inclusion of new data relevant to the use of plants in the treatment of water pollution in green infrastructure projects of in situ water management within the city of São Paulo, by means of a research internship at the University of Humboldt in Berlin, Germany, under the supervision of Dr. Prof. Cornelia Oschmann. Humboldt University plays an important role in the development and implementation of green technology and acts to propagate this body of knowledge throughout the international scientific community. The activities proposed by this research internship seek to deepen analysis of my current findings; to realize a case study, with field visits, in order to collect data about Berlin's experience with green technology water management systems, and to contribute to the progress of this discussion within the areas concerned by my graduate research. Further objectives will include the publication of an article in a peer-reviewed scientific journal and participation in lectures and scientific conference events.