A sustainable journey towards smart urbanization: Green Stormwater infrastructures (An overview of a successful GSI project in the Villanova University)

In the Anthropocene era of climate change, green infrastructures can help improve community resilience by minimizing the urban heat island effect. Green stormwater infrastructures (GSI) are a critical component of Philadelphia's sustainable smart urbanization plan. Integrating green stormwater infrastructure features into community improvements has the potential to considerably reduce the heat island effect, peak stormwater flow, and marginal cost of stormwater management by increasing recipient water quality. As an integral part of green city initiatives, diverse drainage infrastructures were built at Villanova University to allow for runoff and lessen the heat island effect in the newly constructed dormitories known as "The Commons." The goal of this study is to use field observations to examine the effective performance of all GSI located in "The Commons". Three individual temperature probe sensors were installed in the "The Commons" study location, which was an empty parking lot turned into a GSI-facilitated landscape. Three distinct years' summer temperatures were analyzed to determine the variation in temperatures caused by the presence of rain gardens. The redesigned environment, which includes rain gardens and grassland, has lower maximum and average temperatures. Finally, this study proved the reduction of urban stressors because of an ultra-urban area's transition to sustainable and climate resilience urbanization.