Robust Siting of Permeable Pavement in Highly Urbanized Watersheds Considering Climate Change Using a Combination of Fuzzy-TOPSIS and the VIKOR Method

Selecting an optimal location to maximize low impact development (LID) efficiency while accounting for future climate change is a difficult problem that requires multiple criteria to be considered. This study used a coupled approach of Fuzzy-TOPSIS and VIKOR to prioritize the best sites for permeable pavement in an urban watershed while considering climate change scenarios. The future climate change scenario known as shared socioeconomic pathways (SSPs) was used, with ten CMIP6 GCMs. Future monthly precipitation data were bias corrected using a quantile mapping method. The Mokgamcheon watershed, Korea, which has been highly urbanized, was selected, and its 27 sub-watersheds were determined to be the best candidate sites for permeable pavement. The evaluation criteria were determined based on the driving force-pressure-state-impact-response framework, and the corresponding values for the 27 sub-watersheds were obtained from national statistics, bias-corrected precipitation values, and simulations of the Storm Water Management Model (SWMM). The relative closeness to the positive ideal solution was calculated in each case using Fuzzy-TOPSIS, and priority scores were aggregated using the VIKOR method. The priority of permeable pavement was higher in the downstream watershed, which was more urbanized than in the upstream watershed. The results of this study can be helpful to establish a plan for improving the water cycles in urban watersheds under future climate change scenarios.

Automated summary

This study used a coupled approach of Fuzzy-TOPSIS and VIKOR to prioritize the best sites for permeable pavement in an urban watershed. The results showed that the priority of permeable pavement was higher in the downstream watershed, indicating the need for more permeable pavement to improve water cycles.