Optimization of Green Infrastructure Practices in Industrial Areas for Runoff Management: A Review on Issues, Challenges and Opportunities

In urbanized lands, industrial areas are generally located close to residential and commercial areas due to ease of access for material and human resources. These industrial areas annually discharge large volumes of contaminated stormwater to receiving waters. Green Infrastructure (GI) practices, which were initially introduced as a land conservation strategy to enhance green space in urban areas, can provide benefits in source control of runoff generated in industrial areas with higher percentage of impermeable surfaces. Even though industrial areas across the world are currently looking at the applications of GI to reduce the impacts of excessive runoff and mitigate flash floods, several debates exist in optimization of these practices for such areas. In the current practice, optimal selection of GI practices for such areas are generally conducted based on expert judgement, and there are no systematic methodologies currently available for this process. This paper presents a review on various issues, challenges, and opportunities in the optimum applications of GI practices for industrial areas. The Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) analysis conducted in this review by focusing on the applications of GI practices for industrial areas, helped to identify the existing research gaps for the optimization. Furthermore, the review showed the importance of engaging the multi-disciplinary stakeholders in the GI optimization process for industrial areas. In conclusion, the present review highlights the importance of introducing a systematic methodology for the optimum applications of GI practices for industrial areas to manage stormwater.