Sustainable Drainage and Urban Landscape Upgrading Using Rain Gardens. Site Selection in Thessaloniki, Greece

Use of rain gardens and other ecological rainwater management methods in urban areas can contribute to: 1) reduction of total rain water runoff and of its peak, 2) storage of rainwater, in order to cover low quality water demand, such as irrigation of gardens, 3) local aquifer replenishment, 4) reduction of property damage and activity disruption, which is due to insufficient sewer network capacity, 5) improvement of rain runoff quality through pollutant retention, filtration, decomposition, plant uptake, etc. 6) mitigation of pollution of runoff receiving water bodies and 7) upgrading of urban and suburban landscape. In this paper the main features of rain gardens are outlined, criteria for selection of construction sites (such as rain water collection efficiency, landscape improvement and cost) are discussed and certain suitable public or municipal sites in the area of Thessaloniki, Greece, namely in a densely built urban environment, are briefly described. Examples include degraded street and square sections, flower beds, a park, an urban stream bed, a schoolyard and traffic islands.