International Experiences with Low Impact Development (LID)

This paper describes some innovations, challenges, and success stories with practice of Low impact development in different parts of the world. The paper begins with how LID is defined and used in different countries, the local settings, the types of problems addressed and the development process. The challenges presented are in terms of how to bring LID to prime time as well as in implementation. Background information concerning the uses, ownership and associated costs for LID measures compiled from many countries are also presented. A number of case studies that represent the best examples of projects that use LID concepts for stormwater management in Europe and Australasia are presented. Finally, the paper makes sense from all the available data and discusses the remaining challenges in LID.