A systematic bibliometric review of optimization and resilience within low impact development stormwater management practices

Abstract The implication of optimal low impact development (LID) implementations has been attracting researchers' attention, aiming to alleviate the detrimental impacts of urbanization and climate change and enhance resilience. The rapidly increasing number of publications on LID optimization over recent years makes it one of the leading-edge research areas in the field of urban stormwater management. This study aims to conduct a systematic bibliometric review of the optimization and resilience within LID stormwater management practices. LID related publications of 17 years (2004–2020, August) were retrieved from the Web of Science database and thoroughly analyzed. This review looks into the progression of current research themes, previous work outcomes, and key research gaps. Using a clustering tool, four main research clusters have been identified. Employing text mining, each cluster reflecting a research theme is identified based on the analysis of the top fifteen papers. The clusters themes are outlined as (1) optimizing LID type and size, (2) spatial layout optimization with parameter uncertainty and climate and land-use change impacts, (3) hydraulic LID parameter optimization and adoption of multi-criteria analysis and (4) experimental studies on bioretention for quantity and quality assessment. Subsequently, the cross-cutting research gaps are identified considering all articles. Climate change and resilience are identified as key hot topics from authors’ keyword analysis, highlighting current research frontiers and laying out the directions for future research thrust in this critically important emerging research field.