Dealing with stormwater runoff in urban areas is a problem that is getting bigger and more expensive. As we cover porous surfaces with impervious structures-commercial buildings, parking lots, roads, and houses-finding places for rainwater and snowmelt to soak in becomes harder. Many landscapers, architects, planners, and others have proposed that

This thesis investigates sustainable storm water management in an alpine case study in the eastern part of Innsbruck. Firstly the focus lies on the ecological properties of concepts such as Low Impact Development (LID), Water Sensitive Urban Design (WSUD), Sustainable Drainage System (SuDS) and Blue-Green Infrastructure (BGI) especially with regard to the site conditions in the study area. Through a literature research no specific impediments which would hinder an potential implementation could be detected. However there are still general obstacles that discourage a more intensive utilization. In the practical part the Urban Biophysical Environments & Technologies Simulator (UrbanBEATS), a dedicated software for the planning of sustainable storm water management, is used to detect suitable types and locations for the elements of sustainable storm water management in the study area. In a further step the Storm Water Management Model (SWMM) of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) is applied in order to assess the hydrological performance in quantitative terms. The performance during five different storm events are recorded and show a peak runoff reduction up to 4.26% in the total system, a peak fooding reduction up to 20.28% and a fooding volume reduction up to 17.49%.

The manual introduces general audiences to designing landscapes for urban stormwater runoff -- a primary source of watershed pollution. The goal is to motivate awareness and implementation of LID in a wide cross-section of stakeholders, from property owners to municipal governments that regulate infrastructure development. The manual provides a holistic framework in which a novice homeowner and an experienced developer can each find an equally tranformative role to enact.