The project SUDSlong-LCG RUNOFF POLLUTION MONITORING AND MANAGEMENT WITH SUSTAINABLE URBAN DRAINAGE SOLUTIONS is a part of the coordinated project SUDSlong SUSTAINABLE URBAN DRAINAGE SYSTEMS IMPROVEMENT AND STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT FOR LONG-TERM SUCCESS. The main goal of the SUDSlong project is to solve scientific and technical knowledge gaps related to the long-term performance of sustainable stormwater management at real living-labs scale. This is a further step from previous coordinated projects of the teams involved in SUDSlong because until now, former research activities were focused on lab scale. SUDSlong-LCG, led by the Water and Environmental Engineering Research Team (GEAMA) of UDC, will define common and interchanged protocols for hydraulic and environmental pollution assessment of the living labs monitored in SUDSlong. This will promote a general framework to optimise SUDS performance, and city resilience and sustainability. In SUDSlong-LCG two experimental sites placed on Campus-SUDS living lab will be monitored: a set of green roofs and gravel roofs and a sand filter at pilot scale. The second main goal of SUDSlong is to develop some complementary open tools to analyze the resilience and performance of SUDS at city scale. UDC team will provide a robust framework for data analysis, assess SUDS performance, and also lead the governance actions of the project by improve the impact of SUDS research by enhancing redSUDS framework (redsuds.es). The main outcomes will be freely available at the project website. SUDSlong-LCG activities will complement the rest of action planned in the coordinated project SUDSlong.

Cities are facing major threats related to a changing climate. Issues related to urban stormwater management are rising importance. Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems (SUDS) have sown a high potential to manage urban stormwater from a holistic perspective: managing water quantity and quality in decentralised schemes as well as delivering multiple benefits for citizens and urban biodiversity.

The main goal of the SUDSlong project is to solve scientific and technical knowledge gaps related to the long-term performance of sustainable stormwater management at real living-labs scale. This is a further step from previous coordinated projects of the teams involved in SUDSlong because until now, former research activities were focused on lab scale. The research will focus also in developing tools and procedures to be applied at city scale, being this the main original contribution of the project, oriented for public administrations and practitioners. This will promote a general framework to optimise SUDS performance, and city resilience and sustainability. This framework will ensure that all the necessary processes of urban regeneration for adaptation to climate change threats related to stormwater management will be conducted incorporating sustainability and smart governance criteria.

Within the framework of the coordinated project SUDSlong, sub-project SUDSlong-VLC (Long-term assessment of mature SUDS and their role in enhancing urban resilience) will focus on two main issues. First, to analyse the hydraulic and environmental performance of mature SUDS, i.e., those technologies that have already overcome the implementation period and are in a period of stabilized operation. Secondly, the project aims at improving diagnosis and decision-making tools for the prioritization and location of SUDS on an urban scale.

Within experimental activities, the project will monitor a diverse set of real SUDS techniques in the Mediterranean climatic region. The goals of this activities are: a) to analyse the long-term hydrological performance of mature SUDS, focusing on the influence that growing vegetation, maintenance activities or clogging could have; b) to analyse the long-term environmental performance of mature SUDS, focusing on the accumulation of pollutants in soil and vegetation, carbon sequestration and improvement of biodiversity; and, c) to evaluate the ability of SUDS to detain and manage microplastics washed-off by runoff.

SUDS suppose an interesting tool to boost new regeneration models of cities. A sustainable urban drainage management, based on replicating natural drainage processes, offers multiple social and environmental benefits. However, there are still some gaps on how SUDS may affect the roadmap towards more resilient cities. The goals of this activities are: a) to quantify the potential of SUDS to improve the urban hydrological resilience at city scale and to face threats related to climate change; b) to characterise the consequences of SUDS implementation on the network operation, especially on the flow and velocity regimes alteration; and, c) to improve existing GIS-based tools for multicriteria selection and location of SUDS within the city space according to hydrological, environmental and urban criteria.

As part of the coordinated project Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems Improvement and Strategic Management for Long-Term Success (SUDSlong), the subproject 3 Improvement of Permeable Surfaces and Serious Games for Decision-Making on Urban Drainage, led by the University of Cantabria has two main parts.

The first part of the subproject SUDSlong-SDR is focused on the improvement of permeable urban surfaces taking advantage of the Living Lab Santander (SDR). To do so, first the researchers will study how to improve porous pavements using alternative binders, such as polyurethane to increase flexibility and decrease the noise of the surface course, or synthetic bitumen, to reduce the heat island effect in cities, considering recyclability as main criteria for their validation. Moreover, green roofs will be improved using innovative and recycled materials in the substrate and separation layer, to increase hydraulic and thermal performance, conditioning the final selection of construction materials and design by criteria related with green and circular economy. To complete this part of the subproject, the Living Lab Santander will be fundamental to monitor previously executed permeable pavements and green roofs to collect real data and complete the life cycle analysis of the main urban permeable surfaces, comparing with the new proposals of improvement.

In the second part of the subproject SUDSlong-SDR, the researchers will work on the gamification of decisionmaking for the selection of urban surfaces. Firstly, they will propose a methodology for the diagnosis of the sustainability and resilience of cities, according to the materials, extension and location of the different surfaces that cover them. Later, different alternatives of urban permeable surfaces (mainly permeable pavements and green roofs) will be considered to improve the sustainability and resilience indicators of the cities, generating several future scenarios for gaming. Finally, the diagnosis methodology and the alternative scenarios will be organized in a serious game for stakeholder participation and engagement, considering the results of the decision-making process to select the best action to implement permeable surfaces.