Page 58 - Çevre Şehir İklim İngilizce - Sayı 2

Water Sensitivity In The Context Of
Climate-Friendly Urbanism

pollutant sources and take pollution under control. Another issue to deal with
concerning cities is collecting, filtering and managing waste water (Tanık et al,
2016). The water scarcity that gradually worsens with drought has revealed that
we need to use waste water more creatively. To reach this goal, it is important
to create urban information systems (telecommunication, transportation,
green system, etc.) integrated with other networks to inform the processes of
collection, recycling and use of water resources (Derrible, 2017).
Floods are destructive natural disasters that affect humans around the
world. Additionally, the rise of sea levels force many cities to be restructured.
It is possible to deal with the aforementioned problems through rendering our
cities sensitive to water. This article aims to reveal strategies to be developed
in public space concerning the creation of water-sensitive cities of our world
struggling with climate change.
Efficient planning decisions depend on making sense of these strategies
and usually require more than one measure to be taken. One of the leading
precautions is the prevention of new and non-conforming structures in
overflow embankments, demolishing certain structures, rendering structures
resistant to floods, handling with gray, green and blue infrastructure together,
managing the development in the basin, and putting early warning systems
into use (Pilon, 2003). Additionally, systematic measurements should be made,
models should be built based on future projections, and activities should
be organized to raise public awareness. While there are many countries
around the world with a history of water-resistant urbanization and rainwater
management (Brown and Clarke, 2005), there are yet many industrialized
cities that have trouble finding enough workforce and funding to establish
infrastructure (Brown et al, 2011).

Green Infrastructure Strategies and Components

As human population increases and migration to cities continues, the
expansion of cities on natural and agricultural areas becomes inevitable.
During this transformation, existing textures are changed and replaced with
structures such as roofs, roads, car parks, transforming the land towards more
solid surfaces. Its consequences concerning water mean the cities being
exposed to more surface runoffs, and the need to manage this water. Often
times, cities change the natural drainage pattern completely, which leads
the water to reach the point of springing from the surface. In this case, less
water seeps in the soil to supply groundwater. Also in rainy seasons, stream
beds have to deal with the highest level of water flow more frequently and
for longer periods of time. On the other hand, in dry seasons, less than usual

Year 1 / Issue 2 / July 2022 44