Climate adaptation of Chalmers University of Technology for an increase in precipitation - A case study at a selected site on Campus Johanneberg

Abstract

Due to the predicted climate change, there will be an increase in precipitation and the need for climate adaptation is getting more urgent around the world. This report covers how a selected site at Chalmers University of Technology could be adapted for the future change in climate. To get an understanding of where on Campus Johanneberg there is a need for stormwater management, an initial site selection with SCALGO Live and “Vatten i Göteborg (Water in Gothenburg)” was done for a cloudburst of 101 mm. The site selection was later confirmed through interviews with the property owners Akademiska Hus and Chalmersfastigheter. The selected site is the area outside the entrance to Kårrestaurangen, Geniknölen, Tågvagnen and Samhällsbyggnad I. The selected solution was developed with the campus plan in mind, which Chalmers University of Technology together with stakeholders developed in 2019. The solution was further developed after the feedback from the interviews and the survey, answered by the selected students. The survey also showed that the majority of the selected students thought that more visible stormwater management on campus would add something to their education. The selected solution is a combination of rain gardens, reinforced grass, covered gutters and an open stormwater storage area. A simplified version of the selected solution was modeled and simulated in SCALGO Live to get an understanding of how the selected site can be improved. The simulation was done for two scenarios, a moderate rain event of 10 mm and a cloudburst of 101 mm. The results show that the situation during a moderate rain event is greatly improved by the selected solution, but for a cloudburst the improvements are limited. The main conclusion of this study is that it is possible to climate adapt Campus Johanneberg to an increase in precipitation and this thesis shows one possible way of doing it.