Assessment of the Potential for the Use of Blue-Green Infrastructure in Northern Cities (Using the Example of Vorkuta)

Flood events have become more frequent and widespread globally, leading to premature deaths, infrastructure damage, and outbreaks of epidemics each year. Designing an efficient sewage system and blue-green infrastructure (BGI) is considered as an optimal solution for stormwater runoff management during rainy season. To manage and respond to floods more effectively, it is first necessary to identify flood-susceptible areas (FSA). In this paper, we 1) applied two methods to identify FSA: 2D hydrodynamic modeling and Normalized Difference Water Index (NDWI), and 2) analyzed the potential of BGI to mitigate stormwater runoff. A comparison of two methods for FSA identification has shown the irrelevance for NDWI application in an urban environment. The city located over the Arctic Circle (Vorkuta) has been chosen as a case study for the development of a BGI concept since there are currently no known examples in the high latitudes. For modeled and verified (in the field) FSA, we have proposed to place a system of retention basins and filter drain in green areas. This developed concept can further be applied in other Arctic cities. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2025.