PhD

Transport Planning

Study mode:On campus Study type:Full-time Languages: English
 
160 place StudyQA ranking:2868 Duration:

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Description

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Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems (SUDS) provide a means of controlling urban diffuse pollution, reducing flood risk and incidence of combined sewer overflow (CSO), and some also have amenity value. SUDS are most commonly implemented with respect to new build, however, even if SUDS for new build result in no net change to the diffuse load and discharge regime of the site in question, the legacy of extant urban development means that flood risk and diffuse pollution problems that we have now will not be addressed. The bulk of all development we will have in 2050 has already been built, and there is a clear need to retrofit the existing built environment with SUDS.

Retrofit SUDS are a greater challenge than new build SUDS for two reasons. Firstly, there is significant uncertainty over where in the built environment SUDS are needed most. This is important as, compared to new build SUDS, there are fewer regulatory drivers of retrofit SUDS, and so it is particularly important to be confident that any retrofit investment is made in places where it will have substantive benefit. Whilst work exists to show where diffuse pollutant hotspots occur, this has not been integrated with information on areal contributions to flood risk. That is, planner lack maps that show them where, at basin, city, and neighbourhood scales, SUDS are most needed.

Secondly, SUDS retrofit faces greater constraints than new build SUDS, and hence ceteris paribus, the opportunities for retrofit are fewer. These constraints are physical (e.g. space, slope, infiltration capacity), economic (e.g. land price) and social (e.g. public acceptability). In general, we can assume that area of high SUDS need occur in areas where the implementation constraints are also highest (due to the role of density in generating urban drainage problems and limiting SUDS options). They are therefore likely to be a series of sites within any built environment (basin, city, neighbourhood), which are optimal for SUDS retrofit, considering need and feasibility. The proposed research would thus seek to determine how best to identify where, in a given urbanised catchment, the optimal sites for SUDS retrofit are, through consideration of SUDS need and feasibility.

Contents

Your studentship will be part of the Water Connected City programme of water@leeds, one of the largest interdisciplinary centres for water related training and research in the world. You will be based in the School of Civil Engineering, with access to world class laboratory and wider campus facilities, and will spend significant periods of time shaping and transferring knowledge and conducting fieldwork with our partners Arup. You will also form part of a large and vibrant postgraduate research community, extending right across the University of Leeds.

Requirements

Applications are invited from candidates with or expecting a minimum of a UK upper second class honours degree (2:1), or equivalent, in a Civil Engineering or Geography discipline with a strong water related focus.

Funding

Value: This studentship, which is open to UK/EU students in the first instance, will pay the academic fees at the UK/EU rate (£3,975), as well as providing an annual stipend of £13,863 per 3.5 years.

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