Dual-Use Stormwater Storage Facilities for Normal and Emergency Situations in Urban Pluvial Flood Control: Advances and Optimization Pathways

Abstract

To alleviate the increasing urban pluvial flood risks, Dual-Use Stormwater Storage Facilities (DUSSFs) for normal and emergency situations have emerged as a vital complement to traditional stormwater facilities. DUSSFs not only effectively enhance urban capacity to cope with extreme rainfall but also align with the growing demand for multifunctional and intensive utilization of existing spaces. With the continuous empowerment of real-time technologies (RTTs), DUSSFs play an increasingly crucial role in strengthening urban resilience, activating public spaces, and enhancing disaster response capabilities, necessitating a systematic review of its research development and frontiers. Based on bibliometric analysis and CiteSpace visualization methods, this paper systematically analyzes current research hotspots in DUSSFs, thoroughly examines its conceptual origins and classification methods, and summarizes cases of both unit- and system-level management enabled by RTTs. Looking toward the construction of future intelligent drainage and flood prevention systems, this paper summarizes spatial optimization pathways for DUSSF across three dimensions—site identification, whole-hazard-cycle configuration, and system-level management. The pathways require: 1) actively establishing typologies and design guidelines for DUSSF and refining cross-departmental and interdisciplinary collaborative mechanisms; 2) improving the multi-objective optimization framework by incorporating whole‑hazard‑cycle resilience indicators into DUSSF configurations; and 3) deeply embracing RTTs, particularly artificial intelligence-based risk prediction and spatial coordination tools, to enhance the response capabilities to urban flood disaster. This review aims to provide theoretical references for urban flood management and qualitative spatial optimization, while offering new perspectives in addressing challenges posed by extreme rainfalls for planning and design practice.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

Blue–Green Infrastructure / Sponge City / Real-Time Control / Flood Resilience / Disaster Prevention Green Space / Dual–Use for Normal and Emergency Situations / Urban Pluvial Flood

Highlight

	· Clarifies the conceptual origins, core features, and classification framework of DUSSF
	· Summarizes RTT-empowered applications of unit- and system-level management of DUSSF
	· Proposes DUSSF optimizations via site identification, whole-hazard-cycle configuration, and system-level management

1 Research Background

With the accelerating impacts of global climate change and rapid urbanization, urban pluvial flood has become increasingly frequent and is now a critical constraint on sustainable urban development and the improvement of residents' quality of life^[1–^2]. Studies show that from 1990 to 2021, the global area prone to flooding in the cities increased by 94%, with low- and middle-income countries experiencing a continuous rise in population exposed to pluvial flood risks. In China, flood-prone built-up urban areas have expanded at an annual rate of 6%, ranking first globally in both newly affected area and overall risk^[3–^4]. According to the Ministry of Emergency Management of China, during the 2024 rainy season alone, several cities—including Nanning, Guangxi Province (late May), Yueyang, Hunan Province (early July), Nanyang, Henan Province (mid-July), and Huludao, Liaoning Province (late August)—suffered severe pluvial flood disasters^[5–^7]. This underscores the urgent need for effective urban flood risk management.

Within the frameworks of sponge city and resilient city development, stormwater storage facilities (SSFs) serve as fundamental infrastructure for regulating total rainfall-runoff volume, reducing peak flows, and alleviating loads on drainage systems—thus playing a key role in mitigating urban pluvial floods^[8–^9]. However, as Chinese cities enter the era of high-quality urban development, single-function SSF planning and construction face multiple challenges: 1) urban land resources are increasingly scarce, making it difficult to allocate sufficient space for large-scale SSFs; 2) upgrading and retrofitting aging drainage networks in built-up areas is costly and technically challenging; 3) regulatory detailed sponge city planning largely focuses on meeting the defined control rate of total annual runoff by cascading it to each parcel, without setting explicit emergency stormwater storage targets; and 4) while blue–green infrastructure (BGI) effectively reduces runoff at the source, its capacity to attenuate peak discharges during heavy storms is limited, and governance often remains fragmented without effective coordination^[10–^13].

In July 2023, the State Council of China called for the steady and proactive development of dual-use public infrastructure in mega and large cities^[14–^15]. This introduced the concept of Dual-Use Stormwater Storage Facilities (DUSSFs) for normal and emergency situations^①[16–^18]. The relevant documents have explicitly proposed making full use of public spaces, e.g., parks, plazas, stadiums, and parking lots, to temporarily retain stormwater runoff that exceeds the standards of source-control and drainage pipelines and channels ("excess runoff" hereafter)^[19–^20].

① Based on the Technical Code for Stormwater Storage Works in Towns (GB 51174–2017) and related literature (source: Refs. [16–18]), this paper adopts "DualUse Stormwater Storage Facilities for normal and emergency situations" as the English term.

Unlike conventional sponge city facilities (e.g., green roofs, permeable pavements, sunken green spaces, bioretention ponds), DUSSFs overcome the limitations of passive stormwater collection. First, they emphasize active management—under normal conditions, these spaces function as urban public landscapes providing leisure and recreational services, while in emergencies, they can be integrated with the excess runoff system following contingency plans. Second, the features of DUSSF—rapid response, overload handling, and transition between normal and emergency functions—endow the facilities with significant advantages in efficient land use and the integration of multiple benefits, making them particularly suitable for flood management in the complex contexts of built-up areas (Fig. 1). The rapid rise of real-time technologies (RTTs), including rainfall nowcasting^[21–^23], Internet of Things (IoT) online monitoring^[24–^26], and optimal control^[27–^30], has greatly enhanced DUSSF planning and management^[31–^33]. By continuously tracking rainfall, water depth, and facility status, DUSSF can be activated based on flood risk forecasts and quickly return to its original functions after events^[34]. Furthermore, systematic configuration of DUSSF using the multi-objective optimization algorithms can enable staggered upstream–downstream discharge at the sub-watershed level, significantly improving operational efficiency.

Driven by supportive policies and technological innovation, DUSSF is increasingly valued for its role in enhancing urban resilience, revitalizing underutilized public spaces, strengthening drainage and flood management systems, and improving disaster response capacity. However, integrated research on the policy, planning, and technological coordination of DUSSF remains at an early stage, highlighting the urgent need for a review of relevant progress from the perspectives of urban planning and landscape design. To address the gap, this research employs a bibliometric analysis and CiteSpace visualization to summarize the development trajectory of DUSSF research, synthesize progress in RTT applications, and explore pathways for spatial optimization. The results aim to provide a theoretical basis for urban pluvial flood mitigation and the optimization of existing public spaces, expand the research scope of planning and design disciplines, and offer new perspectives for design practices in responding to extreme rainfall events.

2 Research Methods and Data Sources

2.1 Literature Retrieval and Screening

To ensure a comprehensive review, this research identified "stormwater storage facilities" (雨水调蓄设施) and "dual-use" (平急两用) as the core search terms, supplemented with semantically related keywords. The search was conducted in August 2024 using the Web of Science (WoS) Core Collection for English literature and China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) database for Chinese literature, without restriction on publication year (Fig. 2). Titles, abstracts, and keywords were screened to retain studies focusing on runoff volume control in urban pluvial flood mitigation, while excluding research on urban water supply, wastewater management, or water quality improvement. Full-text screening was then performed to identify publications explicitly addressing dual-use strategies rather than single-function facilities; these were included as the sample set for bibliometric analysis to reflect the overall development trend. Subsequently, in-depth reading was performed to select case studies that applied at least one RTT, including rainfall nowcasting, IoT online monitoring, and optimal control.

2.2 Bibliometric and Visualization Analysis

The annual number of publications in Chinese and English was charted to illustrate temporal trends in DUSSF-related research. CiteSpace 6.4.1 was employed to visualize the academic developments in this field. First, keyword clustering analysis was conducted to identify the temporal span of studies, the evolution of research hotspots, and the relationships among them. Next, the burst period and burst strength of keywords were examined to characterize the phases of DUSSF research development.

3 Results and Discussion

3.1 Bibliometric and Visualization Analysis Results

After full-text screening, 114 articles were retained for bibliometric analysis. The temporal trend shows that DUSSF-related research was relatively sparse prior to 2019, but experienced a substantial growth thereafter, with publication peaks in 2020 and 2021. In addition, English articles significantly outnumbered Chinese ones (Fig. 3).

Due to the limited number of studies published in Chinese, this research conducted a visualization analysis of the 94 English papers. The timeline analysis of the clustering hotspots (Fig. 4) show that, between 2016 and 2024, the strongest associations emerged among Cluster #0 "Nature-based Solutions" (NbS), Cluster #1 "BGI", and Cluster #2 "Model predictive control" (MPC). BGI serves as a spatial carrier to implement NbS; RTTs are commonly employed to regulate the inflow and outflow of stormwater in BGI to maximize its storage performance^[35]; in addition, MPC algorithms represent one of the most widely applied optimization approaches in RTTs^②.

② MPC is an online optimization algorithm that uses predictive models to generate control signals and dynamically recalibrate them in real time, enabling continuous interaction between the physical space and the simulation model.

Analysis of keyword burst period and strength suggests that the development of DUSSF-related research can be divided into three phases (Fig. 5). 1) The concept formation phase (2016–2019): keywords such as "infrastructure" and "system/smart cities" indicate that DUSSF was initially conceptualized as a novel infrastructure in smart city. 2) The problem-oriented phase (2019–2022): the burst of keywords like "green infrastructure, " "climate change, " and "flood risk" reflects increasing attention to extreme rainfall, flood risk reduction, and issues related to NbS. 3) The technological advancement phase (2022–2024): with the iterative upgrading of RTTs, keywords such as "IoT" and "MPC" have emerged, and the performance of DUSSF in regulating urban pluvial flooding has received growing attention.

3.2 Research Development of DUSSF

3.2.1 Concept Origins of DUSSF

As a term that emerged under the public infrastructure agenda of China, DUSSF has yet to become a widely recognized academic concept globally. However, the core idea underlying DUSSF—the functional transition between normal and emergency use—has long been present in earlier research and practice. At the end of the 20th century, countries such as Japan and the USA had implemented DUSSFs. In Japan, urban planning projects in Chikuma, Utsunomiya, Okazaki, Neyagawa, and Himeji integrated school playgrounds, green spaces, and parking lots with runoff conveyance corridors, which substantially enhanced flood resilience and were promoted nationwide^[36]. In the USA, the Low Impact Development framework promotes multifunctional SSFs, emphasizing landscape-based solutions to increase practical utility^[37–^39]. For example, the Washington Park, Downers Grove, Illinois, used soccer fields as emergency detention basins during heavy rainfall, actively diverting runoff and saving USD 5 million in pipeline repair costs^[40].

In 2005, Wu Che et al. proposed design concepts for multifunctional SSFs adapted to Chinese urban contexts, classifying them into depressed landforms, ponds, wetlands, public facilities associated with daily life, and large-diameter storage conduits^[41–^42]. Junqi Li et al. further developed corresponding volume calculation methods to address differing functional requirements^[43]. Between 2006 and 2010, the Dutch design firm De Urbanisten introduced the Watersquare concept—public squares that double as temporary SSF^[44–^45]. Relevant projects in Rotterdam, Tiel, and Amsterdam gained broad public recognition. Around the same period, Norwegian scholar Oddvar Lindholm proposed a three-stage stormwater management framework based on rainfall intensity: natural infiltration under normal conditions, detention to delay peak flow during moderate storms, and ensuring unobstructed conveyance pathways during extreme events^[46].

Since China promotes sponge city construction across the nation in 2021, developing urban open space systems with stormwater regulation and storage functions has become a prominent focus in urban design. For instance, Guanglong Wei et al. advocated a seasonal composite model to integrate underground functional spaces and water retention areas^[47]; while Qiao Wang et al. emphasized increasing the proportion of "floodable" open space across multiple urban scales to enhance flood resilience^[48–^49]. Globally, numerous examples have emerged. In Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, SMART Tunnel serves as a traffic tunnel under normal conditions, but diverts stormwater to adjacent low-speed lanes during moderate rainfall, and is fully dedicated to runoff conveyance during extreme storms^[50]; in Auckland, New Zealand, the revitalization of Sannynook Park connects a rugby field with a runoff conveyance channel, allowing the field to serve as short-term detention during heavy rainfall^[51]; in Hamburg, Germany, community sports fields and playgrounds are promoted as emergency SSFs^[52]; in Shenyang, China, the Xiannyu Lake Community Park can channel floodwater from a nearby river through sluice gates and discharge them after the storm peak has passed^[53].

Building on the global theoretical and practical evolution of DUSSF, and drawing on the latest design guidelines as well as studies by Xiaolu Gong et al.^[54] and Xinnan Zhang et al.^[18], DUSSF can be defined as urban public spaces that are adapted or co-constructed, without compromising their normal functions, to temporarily store stormwater. Such spaces constitute a critical component of sponge city for managing excess runoff.

3.2.2 Classification of DUSSF

Current scholarship primarily classifies DUSSF based on its management mode, elevation, and land-use type. Based on management mode—specifically, whether human intervention is required for the functional transition between normal and emergency use—DUSSF can be categorized as actively managed and passively operated types^[55–^56]. Actively managed DUSSF functions as micro-scale detention zones within the city. The temporary storage function is activated under certain hazard conditions, diverting runoff via surface channels, pipelines, or pumps. Passively operated DUSSF mainly relies on topography and gravity. Once the water depth exceeds a threshold, runoff automatically flows into the storage facility.

By elevation, DUSSF can be classified as aboveground, underground, and lake types^[54]. By land-use type, DUSSF can be classified as park green space, protective greenbelt, plaza, parking lot, sports field, and municipal land. Land-use type has a significant influence on both spatial design strategies and functional transition mechanism. Park green space DUSSF performs basic detention functions under normal conditions and can be converted to concentrated flood storage during storm events. Hard-surfaced DUSSFs (e.g., plazas, sports fields, parking lots) require structural measures such as inlets, temporary barriers, and sluice gates, to embed emergency detention capacity within existing facilities. Under regular rainfall, they maintain smooth drainage; during extreme storm events, they are operated following contingency plans to form temporary detention areas, which are then rapidly drained to restore normal use.

3.3 RTT-Empowered DUSSF

When responding to sudden urban flooding events, although the concept of functional dual-use has notable advantages, there is still a lack of systematic solutions to the challenge of "how to activate and how to restore" DUSSF. On the one hand, if DUSSF is activated too early or too late, its peak flow reduction effect would be greatly diminished; on the other hand, if floodwater is not drained in time, it would pose certain safety risks. For instance, pedestrians may accidentally fall into the water; the pathogenic bacteria in the floodwater may cause public health issues^[57]; and prolonged inundation may kill flood-intolerant plants and thus increase maintenance costs. Since 2019, a growing body of research has emerged applying RTTs such as rainfall nowcasting, IoT online monitoring, and optimization control to manage DUSSF. It should be emphasized that RTT-based DUSSF is categorized as actively managed DUSSF. According to the Technical Standard for Real-Time Control of Urban Drainage Systems (Draft for Comments), such facilities can be further classified by control level into unit-level (localized autonomous decision-making) and system-level (distributed collaborative decision-making) DUSSFs.

In the bibliometric review, 80 key publications involving RTTs were identified (75 in English, 5 in Chinese). From a global perspective, the USA ranks first with 27.27% of the literature, followed by China (20.45%) and Australia (9.09%), with the UK, Canada, Estonia, and other countries/regions also contributing to this field. Table 1 lists recent unit- and system-level DUSSF management case studies published in high-impact international journals, and compares their site areas, applied RTTs, and performance^[58–^71].

3.3.1 Unit-Level Management

Unit-level management refers to the optimized control of individual DUSSF units. It primarily relies on real-time monitoring of rainfall and water depth to dynamically regulate facility outflows, thereby regulating the peak discharge of each catchment area during storm events and alleviating downstream drainage pressure.

For aboveground DUSSF, the research teams from Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam in the Netherlands^[58] and the University of Cagliari in Italy^[59] have independently proposed smart blue–green roof schemes. The principle is to add rooftop water storage layers and smart valves, which use 6-hour rainfall forecasts to dynamically regulate roof water storage and utilization, thereby reducing roof outflow under extreme storms by 70% ~ 97%. Researchers at Tennessee State University, USA proposed applying RTT to optimize rain garden design, increasing its storage capacity by about 11% compared with conventional bioretention systems^[60]. The research team from Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique in Quebec, Canada, has in recent years focused on the real-time control of stormwater retention ponds and peak outflow reduction. The concept was first introduced by Karine Bilodeau et al. in 2018: adding a retention pond and automatic valves at the site outlet, with multiple valve openings set according to water depth and 6-hour rainfall forecasts, achieving a 46% reduction in peak outflows^[61]. Subsequently, Shadab Shishegar and colleagues further improved the optimization algorithm, adjusting valve states every 30 minutes and reducing peak outflow by 73% ~ 95%^[62]. In addition, Nils Kändler et al. implemented floodable parking lots around buildings, reducing peak outflows from individual urban catchments by more than 50%^[63]. Addressing the issue that the storage capacity of small urban water bodies often cannot be released before storms, Huaiyu Zhou et al. developed a predictive algorithm with a 5-minute interval to pre-drain and activate landscape retention ponds, reducing catchment peak flows by up to 45%^[64].

For underground DUSSF, Lanxin Sun et al. used a predictive algorithm (5-minute cycle) to optimize underground storage modules in Shenzhen's sponge communities, reducing peak runoff by 23% ~ 58%^[65]. Mingkun Xie et al. developed an IoT-based monitoring and control system for green infrastructure, enabling real-time performance assessment and synchronized adjustment of stormwater storage modules, achieving a site water capture rate of 75%^[66]. Ye Zhong et al. employed rule-based control to regulate the open/close status of outlets in storage modules, significantly improving operational efficiency during storms^[67].

3.3.2 System-Level Management

System-level management refers to the real-time coordinated control of multiple unit-level DUSSFs across interconnected discharge areas, determining priority- and staggered-discharge zones to relieve drainage pressure in high flood-risk areas^[72–^73]. The research team from the Technical University of Denmark proposed using roads as temporary conveyance channels to divert excess stormwater runoff in real-time to temporary storage sites such as parks, skateparks, and soccer fields, thereby achieving staggered shifts of discharge^[68, ^74]. In related case studies, by managing roads that accounted for 7% of the total area, they significantly reduced combined sewer overflow (CSO) volumes during heavy rainfall events in Copenhagen communities. Researchers at Tallinn University of Technology in Estonia developed road detention units, using open spaces covering about 6% of Tallinn's old town area to eliminate 30% of identified flooding hotspots^[69]. Zhou et al. applied a smart internal-drainage roof system to manage rooftops covering 11% of a high-density block, reducing the flood-prone area by up to 30%, and cutting the duration and depth of flooding at a high-risk underpass by 50% and 28%, respectively^[70]. They also took Wangchengpo, an old residential community in Changsha, as a case study and demonstrated that a smart water square occupying 5% of the community's total area reduced the inundated area by 46% ~ 48% and decreased the maximum water depth by nearly 40%^[71].

3.4 Spatial Optimization Pathways for DUSSF

The literature review shows that, while there is broad international consensus on the potential of DUSSF in urban drainage, pluvial flood mitigation, and emergency response systems, scholars have also highlighted research and practice bottlenecks in applying DUSSF within high-density built environments^[64, ⁷⁰–^71]. Building on three dimensions—site identification, whole-hazard-cycle configuration, and system-level management—this review further synthesizes optimization pathways and recommendations from existing research, aiming to inform DUSSF planning and design through new theoretical perspectives and practical guidance.

3.4.1 Optimizing Site Identification for DUSSF

Within urban drainage and pluvial flood management systems, the operating principles of DUSSF are comparable to those of flood detention zones and stormwater parks^[75], emphasizing the conversion of micro-scale public spaces into temporary storage facilities. However, existing research on the disaster-prevention functions of existing open spaces has assessed their accessibility and adequacy, particularly their roles in shelter, evacuation, and quarantine during earthquakes, fires, or public health emergencies—while comparatively less attention has been paid to their capacity to manage short-duration and excess runoff^[76–^77]. The key reasons for this research gap include the following aspects. 1) Lack of systematic summary of typologies and design guidelines for DUSSF, leading to the absence of robust methods for assessing the retrofit potential of different public spaces. 2) To meet the annual runoff control rate, SSFs in existing areas are often designed based on a fixed return period. However, the absence of a scientific allocation mechanism for storage capacity under non-routine extreme events makes it difficult to balance demands between regular rainfall management and emergency flood control. 3) Insufficient connectivity between public spaces and primary runoff conveyance corridors, resulting in limited coordination of upstream and downstream SSFs^[78–^80]. 4) Unclear inter-agency responsibilities across departments such as landscaping, water management, and subdistrict administration, require development of effective coordination mechanisms. To address these issues, developing a systematic DUSSF site identification methodology has become a key pathway for advancing its application. For instance, Pengcheng Li et al. proposed a "six-step resilience method" for identifying and allocating DUSSF sites in central Shanghai^[81]. Similarly, Zhou et al., in their smart watersquare study, suggested using indicators such as slope, enclosure, permeability, and proximity to conveyance corridors and flooding points to identify potential sites^[71].

3.4.2 Optimizing Whole-Hazard-Cycle Configuration for DUSSF

Recent studies have applied multi-objective optimization techniques, e.g., genetic algorithms and simulated annealing, to balance water regulation, ecological benefits, and management costs across various types of SSFs^[82–^84]. However, these approaches are typically based on fixed storm return periods and target functions, without incorporating the whole hazard cycle of "resistance–response–recovery"^[85–^86]. Although resilience assessment methods in urban planning and landscape architecture have advanced significantly, they still fail to capture the complete process by which urban functions degrade and recover during flood events^[87–^88], thereby limiting comparative evaluations of DUSSF configurations. To address this limitation, scholars have introduced the system performance curve (SPC). Michel Bruneau et al. conceptualized the "resilience triangle" to represent the proportion of normal urban functionality (0 ~ 100%) over disaster timelines^[89]; Seith N. Mugume applied SPC to optimize the storm drain systems^[90]; and Yuntao Wang et al. used SPC to illustrate the recovery procedures of different land use types during floods^[91]. More recently, Jiada Li et al. compared static and real-time management of DUSSF in Salt Lake City using SPC, demonstrating that real-time control markedly improves urban recovery speed^[92]. Similarly, Zhou et al. evaluated the impacts of different real-time control intervals on the number of flooding points, confirming the effectiveness of RTTs^[71]. Building on these insights, future research could apply SPC to compare recovery efficiency under varying DUSSF configurations and incorporate resilience metrics into target functions to enable more systematic performance assessments.

3.4.3 Optimizing System-Level Management for DUSSF

The introduction of RTTs has significantly enhanced the capacity of DUSSF to cope with emergent pluvial flooding. At present, unit-level management approaches, typically based on peak outflow or ponding depth, are relatively well established, whereas research on system-level management that emphasizes upstream–downstream coordination remains limited. The main bottlenecks lie in the enormous demand for urban spatial data, the substantial computational resources required for risk prediction at the city scale, and the need for deep integration of hydrological–hydrodynamic mechanism models with city information modelling (CIM). As a result, achieving global optimal solutions at second-level timeframes remains highly challenging^[93]. By contrast, unit-level management primarily addresses overflow or ponding risks of the facilities, requires far fewer computational resources, and can be implemented directly with established hydrodynamic mechanism models. With the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence, surrogate models based on artificial neural networks can overcome the limitations of mechanism models in terms of computational speed and error tolerance to a certain extent. Trained on large volumes of offline data, surrogate models have been applied to urban flood risk prediction and spatial management^[93–^95]. Recent studies by Benjamin D. Bowes et al. and Xinran Luo et al. have employed multi-agent reinforcement learning and long short-term memory, reducing global risk prediction times in system-level management from the minute- to second-level, while maintaining stability under disturbances like monitoring errors^[96–^97]. These emerging technologies hold promise for enabling system-level management of upstream and downstream DUSSFs, yet current research remains at an exploratory stage and requires further development.

4 Conclusions

Using bibliometric methods, this review visually analyzed research hotspots and trends of DUSSF, systematically investigated its conceptual origins and classification framework, and illustrated applications of RTTs in both unit- and system-level management. Building on this basis, this review further identified spatial optimization pathways for DUSSF across three dimensions—site identification, whole-hazard-cycle configuration, and system-level management.

Research trends show that since 2019, studies on DUSSF have grown significantly, with the focus shifting from early conceptual development to problem-oriented research, and more recently to advanced RTT applications. The USA, China, and Australia have been the leading contributors, driving global adoption and development. This review traces the origins of the DUSSF concept to China's "dual-use for normal and emergency solusions" policy and the design practices of multifunctional SSFs. DUSSFs can be classified by management mode, elevation, and land-use type. Multiple cases worldwide have demonstrated their effectiveness in mitigating urban pluvial floods. At the research frontier, the integration of RTTs has greatly enhanced the proactivity and precision of DUSSF in flood management, leading to unit- and system-level management pathways that leverage rainfall nowcasting, online monitoring, and optimized control to improve operational efficiency.

Overall, DUSSF presents an important opportunity for urban planning and landscape architecture disciplines to advance research on urban flood prevention and resilience. First, beyond conventional stormwater detention infrastructure such as pipes, reservoirs, and pumping stations, DUSSF constitutes a critical storage space. This calls for the development of systematic DUSSF site identification methods, the establishment of spatial typologies and design guidelines, and the refinement of cross-departmental and cross-disciplinary coordination mechanisms to effectively link existing public spaces with systems managing excess runoff. Second, multi-objective optimization frameworks should be improved by incorporating resilience metrics that capture functional changes across the whole hazard cycle, thereby enabling more comprehensive performance evaluation. In addition, advanced technologies from multiple disciplines, particularly AI-based global risk prediction and spatial coordination methods should be actively integrated to explore coordinated scheduling strategies for SSFs at the city scale, ultimately enhancing the speed and effectiveness of urban flood response and management.

It should be noted that this review primarily focuses on practical DUSSF case studies and spatial optimization pathways. It does not provide a systematic comparative analysis of specific algorithmic frameworks or control intervals for methods such as rainfall nowcasting, IoT online monitoring, and optimal control in different urban contexts. Furthermore, the mechanisms by which cross-disciplinary spatial coordination contributes to flood management, as well as the long-term effectiveness of DUSSF, require further in-depth research and empirical validation.

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