Creating A Sustainable Community: A Study of Using Low Impact Development in Greenville, SC

Increasing impervious surface in urban area caused by continuing urbanization has been a critical issue in stormwater management. Compared with the conventional stormwater management, Low Impact Development (LID) which is an ecologically-based stormwater management approach can slow and reduce stormwater runoff as well as improve water quality through sustaining a hydrologic regime on the site. For finding out which LID practices are appropriate in community design and how they work to make a sustainable stormwater management, three bodies of knowledge are researched in literature review: urbanization, hydrology and stormwater runoff. Through first three projects in case study which are community design/redesign projects with LID, the conclusions are that: small scaled LID facilities are more suitable for community design; the expected goals can be achieved through careful design and building; and successful projects can be an example of sustainable design in local areas. The project in design application is a community design project located at Greenville, SC. This community is designed to supply different types of houses for residents of different background. At the same time, 12 LID facilities are used in whole site to manage stormwater runoff for creating a sustainable community