Online Course on: Green Infrastructure – Effective measures for urban flooding and groundwater management

Course Dates: July 20 to August 17, 2022
Last date to apply - July 15, 2022
Total Study Load: 24 hours
Commitment: 6 hours a week 

Cities in the global south are growing and expanding rapidly. Rapid, unplanned urban growth leads to its own set of problems. Our fresh water sources are reducing, cities encroach and pollute them as wastewater is disposed into water bodies untreated and groundwater exploitation is rampant. Floods in Chennai and Mumbaiand drying cities like Cape Town and Dar E Salam over therecent past have been devastating for human life and property. Experts identify increased unplanned urban growth, grey infrastructure and reduced green spaces as the major root causes tomany of these issues.

Green Infrastructure thus provides a new concept - a ‘smart’ method for natural conservation and urban planning. Urban areas are right at the front of a public health emergency, as the world having been grappling with the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic in the past two years. Cross-disciplinary collaboration of public policies, urban planning and design using open public spaces, parks, urban forests and integrated blue and green infrastructure are needed as tools to make cities healthy. It is high time we realize that ecosystems are not a frill but a necessity.

Augmenting urban green infrastructure is considered to be an effective approach to reduce the adverse impact of urbanization on the hydrological cycle. They improve natural water systems in cities and dampen peak flows from storms that frequently lead to flooding in our cities to help create more water sensitive cities. Expansion of urban green infrastructure interventions is not only an economical and environmentally-friendly approach to deal with storm water runoff and urban flooding, but can also improve the resilience and sustainability of cities.

CSE - School of Water and Waste is back with this online course for the third time in series. The course aims to build basic orientation of practitioners on GI and eventually build a community of practice who can successfully work towards designing and implementing green infrastructure interventions in town/ cities. 

Purpose:

To help practitioners, students, working professionals and environmental enthusiasts learn state-of-art concepts and principles of green infrastructure for improved urban water management at their own comfort and pace. 

Objectives:

• Define and conceptualize green infrastructure for water resource management in urban areas
• Provide an overview of the current problems with water infrastructure and to assess challenges and opportunities in making cities water prudent and resilient to climate change
• To understand role of green infrastructure in sustainable urban water management
• Understand the GI approach and strategies for analyses with regard to planning for different urban typologies
• Recognize scope for GI interventions based on different problem scenarios and contexts
• Understand and apply case studies in support of GI principles across the world 

Theme 1: Introduction to Green Infrastructure for urban spaces
Theme 2: Understanding Green infrastructure approach and interventions
Theme 3: Stakeholder analysis and socio-economic benefits of Green Infrastructure
Theme 4: Best management practices and Case studies on Green Infrastructure 

Course Work

The course comprises of self-study, technological learning tools such as presentations, videos featuring case studies from various countries and other audio material. It will facilitate interaction amongst participants through online forums and discussions. It will be interactive with several interesting assessment exercises and quizzes. Participants will also get a chance to interact and learn from experts at CSE and abroad through online interactions and a webinar. The webinars are mandatory to attend for all the participants and will add up to 5 marks to the overall final scores of the course. 

Course Coordinator

Shivani
Senior Research Associate
Urban Water and Waste Programme
Phone: +91-11-40616000 (Ext: 244)
Email: shivani.y@cseindia.org

Course Director

Depinder Singh Kapur
Director
Water Programme
Phone: +91 9711178181
Email: dkapur@cseindia.org