How to Calculate Stormwater Management and Storage Capacity for Urban Green Space: Multidisciplinary Methods Used in Shanghai City

In order to relieve urban environmental problems due to stormwater runoff, approaches involving the planning of green space for sponge city construction were previously proposed. In this study, water retention characteristics of 168 green spaces are surveyed to develop estimates of stormwater retention in Shanghai City’s center, suburbs and outskirts. Multidisciplinary methods of community investigation, soil tests, artificial rainfall simulation experiments, and simulations in Autodesk storm and sanitary analysis (SSA) and storm water management model (SWMM) are used. The factors affecting the capacity of stormwater management are identified and used to calculate storage estimates. The relationships among rainfall interception capacity (RIC), runoff, soil water storage properties, and vegetative cover are analyzed, which can provide the theoretical foundation for the assessment of the water-holding capacity in urban green spaces. A criterion for the selection of low impact development (LID) techniques for the Shanghai area is developed on the basis of the data from this study.