Author(s)

M. G. Miguez, F. C. B. Mascarenhas & L. P. C. Magalhães

Abstract

The urbanising process usually changes the patterns of land use and aggravates urban flood problems. Developing countries do not always have the basic infrastructure implemented to follow the increasing urbanization and this lack of planning makes the situation even worse. Traditional approaches to urban flood problems basically modify the drainage net in order to suite them to receive discharges of the urbanized areas. This approach is being complemented or replaced by newer concepts, that tend to consider the basin as a system, using distributed interventions, focusing on infiltration and storage measures, trying to restore pre-urbanization flow patterns. These measures integrate the stormwater management in terms of quantity and quality control. In highly urbanized environments, however, it is not always simple to find free adequate areas to settle hydraulic engineering structures. In this situation, there is an interesting option related to the use of multifunctional landscapes, where urban solutions receive additional hydraulic functions, bringing urban planning closer to hydraulic engineering. In this context, this article presents a case study, in which is shown Joana river basin that drains the centre-north region of Rio de Janeiro City, in Brazil. The flooding patterns of the basin and the introduction of traditional engineering measures by the City Hall are studied here, and a set of alternative interventions is presented, pointing to multifunctional landscapes and articulating Architecture, Urbanism and Engineering to aid in the solution of urban flood control problems, especially in a developing country reality. A mathematical model is used to aid the simulation of these different scenerios. Keywords: multifunctional landscapes, urban flood control, mathematical modelling of future scenery.

Keywords

multifunctional landscapes, urban flood control, mathematical modelling of future scenery.