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MINI REVIEW article

Front. Public Health

Sec. Environmental Health and Exposome

Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1583978

This article is part of the Research Topic Greening Urban Spaces and Human Health, Volume III View all 7 articles

Urban Green Spaces and Flood Disaster Management: Towards Sustainable Urban Design

Provisionally accepted
  • Shanghai Lixin University of Accounting and Finance, Shanghai, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    This paper explores how rapid urbanization and frequent extreme rainfall affect urban flood risk, highlighting that stormwater management challenges worsen due to increased impervious surfaces, altered urban hydrological cycles, and damaged natural retention systems. This paper, grounded in sustainable urban design principles, underscores the significance of green infrastructure for bolstering urban flood resilience. Urban green spaces not only reduce surface runoff through natural storage and infiltration but also improve water quality, regulate urban microclimate, and enhance biodiversity. Furthermore, this paper examines the application of green infrastructure in stormwater management, drawing inspiration from international success stories such as the Amsterdam Canal Network, Singapore's ABC Waters Program, and Kazan's "Resilient Belt" project. The study suggests that an integrated "blue-green-gray" strategy, which combines natural ecosystems with engineered facilities, should be adopted to optimize stormwater management efficiency. Despite the significant advantages of green infrastructure, there are still challenges in scaling up the application, connecting decentralized green spaces, and integrating real-time monitoring systems for dynamic regulation. Future research should focus on the synergistic effects of green infrastructure at different urban scales and explore a balanced path between urban expansion and ecological sustainability.

    Keywords: Urbanization, urban stormwater hazard, Urban green spaces, "blue-green-gray" infrastructure, Sustainable urban design

    Received: 26 Feb 2025; Accepted: 31 Mar 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Liu and Zhang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Fang Zhang, Shanghai Lixin University of Accounting and Finance, Shanghai, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

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