Thought Leadership

In the face of increasing extreme heat and flooding events, rethinking our approach to urban design is one way to create more climate resilient cities. With growing support of nature positive design, the concept of resurfacing and re-naturalising urban waterways is one method being discussed as a way to promote urban greening, cooling and biodiversity.

This was the key theme of a presentation by KBR’s Domenic Svejkar, Senior Manager, Consulting, at the recent Sydney Summit – an annual leadership conference convened by the Committee for Sydney for Sydney's leaders and decision-makers. His presentation explored the benefits of reconnecting with water for improved urban liveability.

Bringing hidden waterways to the surface
In most major cities, urban water systems are largely hidden underground, with stormwater treated as waste rather than a valuable resource. By re-evaluating the ways water moves through our urban environments, hidden streams, stormwater channels, and natural water flows could be brought back to the surface in the right locations.

This might include transforming stormwater drainage channels into more natural states by mimicking natural waterways. By allowing stormwater to flow through natural or semi-natural systems such as wetlands or urban green spaces, not only can this increase habitats for local species and improve biodiversity, it can also improve water quality through natural processes. Plus, exposed water bodies, such as restored streams and ponds, create more amenities for recreation, helping to beautify urban environments.

Redefining urban development 
With Australia’s population growing at pace, it’s becoming clear that infinite urban sprawl is no longer sustainable given the extraordinary infrastructure required to support new developments. Higher-density housing in urban centres make better use of existing infrastructure, giving people access to new homes faster.

On the flipside, high-density built environments with limited green spaces are not places where people generally want to live. Pair this with rising energy costs, climate stress and associated wellbeing challenges, there needs to be a renewed focus on making cities more liveable.

Engineering resilient, future-proof cities  
In Australia, KBR’s water engineers are already talking with urban planners and local governments to explore ways to bring back hidden waterways and improve green spaces. Because there are practical challenges associated with resurfacing waterways – such as areas with flat topography, limited available space and competing land uses – we have teams undertaking research projects to explore some of the best ways to overcome these challenges. One solution being studied includes the installation of smart gates that use real-time data from water level sensors to help manage water flows.

Flood risk is also a very real challenge associated with resurfacing waterways. As such, hydraulic modelling that maps how resurfaced waterways will react under various storm events are vital to ensure these kinds of projects are designed in a way that does not cause local flooding.

By combining the goal of reconnecting to water with technical solutions such as flooding and stormwater management, urban drainage, and integrated catchment management, we have the potential to improve green spaces, boost biodiversity, and create cooler, greener, and more liveable cities.

About our water team
KBR’s water team works closely with many of Australia’s water utilities to address critical challenges across the full water cycle. Our broad capabilities enable us to support customers at a holistic level and offer end-to-end solutions, including early phase strategy, technical, engineering, asset management, and market-leading program and portfolio management solutions. Whether it is major pipelines and large pumping stations or advanced water, wastewater and water recycling treatment plants, we provide our customers with smart, sustainable, and resilient solutions that drive a positive, lasting impact on communities.

Find out more: What we do - Water

About our consulting team 
Frazer-Nash (a KBR company) consultants are innovators, systems thinkers and strategists, working together to shape the future. We help governments and industry create sustainable communities through co-creating futures that support climate resilience, economic growth and social wellbeing. Their expertise spans strategic planning, environmental assessment, net zero transition, stakeholder engagement and ESG advisory. We don’t just solve problems, we imagine boldly, think differently, and create solutions others wouldn’t dare to dream.

Find out more: Frazer Nash Australia