Potentials of peri-urban mobility spaces as sponge territories for climate change adaptation and mitigation

Resilient settlement areas require integrated planning and economical use of resources and land to become more sustainable while ensuring a high quality of life and design for all. This has become an urgent issue as increased water-related events such as floods, droughts, water pollution and a lack of biodiversity have a strong impact on settlement areas. Research shows that these impacts are exacerbated by the steady growth of cities, whose main development takes place in peri-urban areas. Increased building and urban sprawl intensively stresses environmental resources, fragmenting physical and social spaces while making them vulnerable to heat island effects as well as during heavy rainfall. This affects not only the drainage system and its ability to cope with flooding, as well as ecological networks, but also the life and quality of open spaces in these peri-urban areas.
PeriSponge aims to improve potential hydrological retention areas and flood capacities along transport areas through well-designed, multifunctional and multicoded open spaces, while providing water management and quality of life solutions to improve climatic, ecological and social functions for quality sustainable peri-urban areas.

Project duration: 
June 2022 – May 2025

Funding:
Österreichische Forschungsförderungsgesellschaft mbH (FFG) (Stadt der Zukunft)
Klima- und Energiefond

Project management:
Eva Schwab

Project partners:
Institut für Siedlungswasserwirtschaft und Landschaftswasserbau, TU Graz
bgmr Landschaftsarchitekten GmbH
GRÜNSTATTGRAZ Forschungs- und Innovations GmbH
Verkehrplus GmbH
Maria Baumgartner, Ingenieurbüro für Landschaftsplanung und Landschaftsarchitektur