PolyUrbWaters Thursday Talk – Stormwater Management in Hamburg: Shifting to a New Approach in Urban Water Management and Stormwater Management

On 3 January 2022 Dr. Sonja Schlipf gave a Thursday Talk on new approaches for urban water management and stormwater management in Hamburg. In order to address the increasing accumulation of storm water events, droughts and hot spells, HAMBURG WASSER and the Hamburg Environmental Authority (now BUKEA) launched the collaborative process of RainWaterInfraStructureAdaptation (RISA). Hence, the principles of water sensitive urban design are becoming more and more important. It integrates the natural water cycle in every stage of urban development by retention, evapotranspiration and infiltration.
Since Hamburg is a growing city, land is lacking for the implementation of sponge elements. Therefore, multifunctional uses are necessary. To implement them, a multi-stakeholder approach and cross sectoral integration at city level is needed. Dr. Sonja Schlipf is an urban planner, who worked in several research projects dealing with stakeholder involvement and climate change adaptation on regional and urban levels since 2007. Her PhD focused on the combined effects of climate change and urban development to the environment and the opportunities of using the environmental impact assessment as a planning tool.