IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v17y2025i6p2527-d1611614.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Hydrologic Efficiency of Rain Gardens as Countermeasures to Overuse of Concrete in Historical Public Spaces

Author

Listed:
  • Marcin K. Widomski

    (Faculty of Environmental and Energy Engineering, Lublin University of Technology, Nadbystrzycka St. 40 B, 20-618 Lublin, Poland)

  • Anna Musz-Pomorska

    (Faculty of Environmental and Energy Engineering, Lublin University of Technology, Nadbystrzycka St. 40 B, 20-618 Lublin, Poland)

Abstract

The overuse of concrete in historical areas, currently observed in various urban watersheds in Poland, may pose a significant threat to the water balance of catchments, leading even to pluvial flooding. The distorted water balance may be, to some extent, restored by sustainable green architecture designs. This paper presents an attempt at the numerical assessment of changes in the water balance caused by revitalization in three main historical squares in cities in Lublin Voivodeship, Poland. A proposal for rain garden installation, allowing the partial restoration of the water balance, is also introduced. Numerical calculations of the runoff generation were performed in SWMM 5 software for real weather conditions recorded in Lublin during the period 1 June–31 August 2024. The performed simulations show that an increase in the imperviousness of the studied urban catchments results in a significant increase in runoff characteristics, with a 78.2–90.9% increase in volume and a 108–141.7% increase in peak flows. The introduction of the proposed rain gardens allows the partial reduction in the runoff volume and peak flows, down by 18.1–30.2% and 17.9–32.0%, respectively.

Suggested Citation

  • Marcin K. Widomski & Anna Musz-Pomorska, 2025. "Hydrologic Efficiency of Rain Gardens as Countermeasures to Overuse of Concrete in Historical Public Spaces," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(6), pages 1-23, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:6:p:2527-:d:1611614
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/6/2527/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/6/2527/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hande Gündel & Ayşe Kalaycı Önaç, 2025. "Simulating blue and green infrastructure tools via SWMM in order to prevent flood hazard in an urban area," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 121(2), pages 1885-1909, January.
    2. Haixing Liu & Yuntao Wang & Chi Zhang & Albert S. Chen & Guangtao Fu, 2018. "Correction to: Assessing real options in urban surface water flood risk management under climate change," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 94(1), pages 19-19, October.
    3. Yiqing Dai & Jiwang Jiang & Xingyu Gu & Yanjing Zhao & Fujian Ni, 2020. "Sustainable Urban Street Comprising Permeable Pavement and Bioretention Facilities: A Practice," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(19), pages 1-14, October.
    4. Marcin K. Widomski & Anna Musz-Pomorska & Justyna Gołębiowska, 2023. "Hydrologic Effectiveness and Economic Efficiency of Green Architecture in Selected Urbanized Catchment," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(7), pages 1-19, June.
    5. Haixing Liu & Yuntao Wang & Chi Zhang & Albert S. Chen & Guangtao Fu, 2018. "Assessing real options in urban surface water flood risk management under climate change," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 94(1), pages 1-18, October.
    6. Helena M. Ramos & Mohsen Besharat, 2021. "Urban Flood Risk and Economic Viability Analyses of a Smart Sustainable Drainage System," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(24), pages 1-13, December.
    7. Mariana L. R. Goncalves & Jonatan Zischg & Sven Rau & Markus Sitzmann & Wolfgang Rauch & Manfred Kleidorfer, 2018. "Modeling the Effects of Introducing Low Impact Development in a Tropical City: A Case Study from Joinville, Brazil," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(3), pages 1-19, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Hong Lv & Xinjian Guan & Yu Meng, 2020. "Comprehensive evaluation of urban flood-bearing risks based on combined compound fuzzy matter-element and entropy weight model," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 103(2), pages 1823-1841, September.
    2. Yuanyuan Yang & Wenhui Zhang & Zhe Liu & Dengfeng Liu & Qiang Huang & Jun Xia, 2023. "Coupling a Distributed Time Variant Gain Model into a Storm Water Management Model to Simulate Runoffs in a Sponge City," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-13, February.
    3. Sikhululekile Ncube & Scott Arthur, 2021. "Influence of Blue-Green and Grey Infrastructure Combinations on Natural and Human-Derived Capital in Urban Drainage Planning," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-16, February.
    4. Hongbin Shi & Miao Zhou & Nana Kong & Yongling Zhang & Xin Li, 2023. "A Study on the Accessibility of the Emergency Medical Services for Urban Kindergartens and Nursing Homes Based on Urban Pluvial Flooding Scenarios," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(13), pages 1-12, July.
    5. Yi, Changsheng & Chen, Zhaoming & Chen, Hongchen, 2023. "Opportunity knocks but just once: Impact of infrastructure investment decision on climate adaptation to flood events," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 121(C).
    6. Seyed M. H. S. Rezvani & Maria João Falcão Silva & Nuno Marques de Almeida, 2024. "Urban Resilience Index for Critical Infrastructure: A Scenario-Based Approach to Disaster Risk Reduction in Road Networks," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(10), pages 1-41, May.
    7. Anna Musz-Pomorska & Marcin K. Widomski & Justyna Gołębiowska, 2024. "Financial Aspects of Sustainable Rainwater Management in Small-Scale Urban Housing Communities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(2), pages 1-21, January.
    8. Chi-Feng Chen & Jhe-Wei Lin & Jen-Yang Lin, 2022. "Hydrological Cycle Performance at a Permeable Pavement Site and a Raingarden Site in a Subtropical Region," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(6), pages 1-16, June.
    9. Valeria Serrano-Núñez & Karolina Villagra-Mendoza & Natalia Gamboa-Alpízar & Miriam Miranda-Quirós & Fernando Watson-Hernández, 2024. "Evaluation of the Hydrological Response of Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) in Socio-Economically Vulnerable Tropical Urban Settlements: A Case Study in La Guapil, Costa Rica, Under Climate Change Scenari," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(24), pages 1-17, December.
    10. Gianna Ida Festa & Luigi Guerriero & Mariano Focareta & Giuseppe Meoli & Silvana Revellino & Francesco Maria Guadagno & Paola Revellino, 2022. "Calculating Economic Flood Damage through Microscale Risk Maps and Data Generalization: A Pilot Study in Southern Italy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(10), pages 1-21, May.
    11. Maria Vitória Ribeiro Gomes & Aline Pires Veról, 2024. "Assessing Public Perceptions of Blue–Green Infrastructure in Urban Watersheds: A Case Study of Acari River, Brazil," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(23), pages 1-32, November.
    12. Syeda Maria Zaidi & Jacqueline Isabella Anak Gisen & Mohamed Eltahan & Qian Yu & Syarifuddin Misbari & Su Kong Ngien, 2022. "Assessment of Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) Physical Schemes Parameterization to Predict Moderate to Extreme Rainfall in Poorly Gauged Basin," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-41, October.
    13. Peng Wang & Hong-Rui Wei & Xi-Yin Liu & Rui-Bo Ren & Li-Zhi Wang, 2021. "Identifying the Long-Term Thermal Storage Stability of SBS-Polymer-Modified Asphalt, including Physical Indexes, Rheological Properties, and Micro-Structures Characteristics," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(19), pages 1-16, September.
    14. Priscila Barros Ramalho Alves & Iana Alexandra Alves Rufino & Patrícia Hermínio Cunha Feitosa & Slobodan Djordjević & Akbar Javadi, 2020. "Land-Use and Legislation-Based Methodology for the Implementation of Sustainable Drainage Systems in the Semi-Arid Region of Brazil," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-23, January.
    15. Bartosz Szeląg & Agnieszka Cienciała & Szymon Sobura & Jan Studziński & Juan T. García, 2019. "Urbanization and Management of the Catchment Retention in the Aspect of Operation of Storm Overflow: A Probabilistic Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(13), pages 1-17, July.
    16. Chaohui Zhang & Mingyu He & Yishan Zhang, 2019. "Urban Sustainable Development Based on the Framework of Sponge City: 71 Case Studies in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(6), pages 1-21, March.
    17. Zening Wu & Yanxia Shen & Huiliang Wang, 2019. "Assessing Urban Areas’ Vulnerability to Flood Disaster Based on Text Data: A Case Study in Zhengzhou City," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(17), pages 1-15, August.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:6:p:2527-:d:1611614. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.