A major future challenge for our city and Hundipea is sustainable stormwater management. Traditional “grey” infrastructure cannot keep pace with growing rainfall variability, urbanization, and environmental pressures. Nature-based solutions (NBS) like rain gardens and sustainable urban drainage systems (SUDS) offer promise but may sometimes underperform due to design flaws, technical uncertainties, and poor maintenance—issues that can also harm public perception.
Many of these problems could be solved by selecting the right, locally adapted plant species. Properly chosen plants filter pollutants, improve infiltration, stabilize soil, and support biodiversity in ways engineered solutions alone cannot. Yet not all plants perform equally, and knowledge about which species are best suited for specific sites remains limited.
