Session D4 - Research and practice: working together

The Climate Transformation Programme (CTP) is an interdisciplinary initiative that advances research and solutions to support resilient, just, and sustainable societies in Singapore and Southeast Asia. It brings together research across climate science, biodiversity, engineering, finance, health, and the social sciences, organised into six strategic clusters. Research under the Novel Engineering Solutions cluster aims to examine the resilience of urban water management under future climate, in Singapore and neighboring countries. An important objective of the research is to examine future extreme precipitation and drought patterns to identify key hazards that Southeast Asian cities should prepare for. In addition, the cluster examines the guidelines for the local Water Sensitive Urban Design – the Active, Beautiful and Clean (ABC) Waters programme – to understand where and how future climate patterns may undermine the performance of urban blue-green infrastructure. The research will synthesize how other countries, in particular in the Tropics, have incorporated climate change into blue-green infrastructure guidelines and recommend amendments to the local ABC Waters guidelines.

This paper presents a research and outreach initiative designed to support participatory planning and decision-making for implementing Nature-based Solutions (NbS) in an urban subcatchment of Belo Horizonte, Brazil. Alternative land-use scenarios were developed using municipal datasets, hydrological modelling, and a structured participatory process with local residents. The study identified areas highly susceptible to flooding, many of which overlap with socially vulnerable informal settlements. Capacity-building workshops enabled residents to engage in collaborative mapping and the co-design of NbS scenarios aligned with local priorities. Hydrological and hydrodynamic models are being used to assess flood risk under current and future land-use conditions, considering climate-change impacts on extreme rainfall. The results provide evidence to support the integration of Green and Blue Infrastructure (GBI) into urban planning and reinforce the importance of social participation for effective implementation and long-term sustainability of NbS interventions.

Urban drainage systems rely heavily on visual inspections for asset management, but current practices using tethered CCTV robots are limited in range and flexibility. Autonomous sewer inspection robots promise a paradigm shift by enabling high-resolution spatial and temporal data collection, improving accuracy in network topology assessment, hydraulic conditions, and defect monitoring. This paper explores the potential impacts of such technologies through two stakeholder workshops conducted under the EU-funded PIPEON project. The first workshop gathered researchers to envision future data needs for modeling, while the second aligned the expectations of sensor developers and utilities on practical requirements and data formats. Findings reveal contrasting priorities: researchers emphasize transformative modeling capabilities, whereas utilities focus on operational reliability, defect detection, and integration with existing GIS systems. The study highlights opportunities and challenges in bridging these perspectives to ensure effective adoption of autonomous inspection technologies for sustainable urban drainage management.

Urban stormwater management requires informed decisions based on robust scientific knowledge. In this regard, the Technical Commission of Urban Water of Brazilian Association of Water Resources (ABRHidro) conducted a structured collective process involving researchers, governmental institutions, engineering companies and professional associations to identify priorities, gaps and actionable strategies for advancing sustainable drainage, particularly Nature-based Solutions (NbS). This paper systematizes the outcomes of that organizational effort, which resulted in a coherent set of proposals aimed at governments, agencies, municipalities and decision-makers engaged in urban stormwater management. Results indicate that structured coordination between science, public policy and the productive sector effectively supports management modernization, capacity-building of local technicians and the adoption of innovative practices. The proposed model is replicable and provides a methodological basis to reinforce science-based decision-making.