Water sensitive urban design

The twenty-first century marks the point in history when the proportion of the world's population living in urban environments has surpassed those living in the rural environment, making the urban environment a critical focal point for Ecologically Sustainable Development (ESD) practices. The pursuit of sustainability has emerged in recent years as a progression from previous environmental protection endeavors. The ambition of sustainability and sustainable development is to have lifestyles, and their supporting infrastructure, that can endure indefinitely because they are neither depleting resources nor degrading environmental quality. Urban development impacts on the sustainability of the physical environment, including the health and amenity of water environments. As growing urban communities seek to minimise their impact on already stressed water resources, an emerging challenge is to design for resilience and adaptability to the impact of climate change, particularly in regards to ensuring secure water supplies and the protection of water environments.