The presentation looks back on 35 years of rainwater management in Europe with a focus on Germany. The call for a paradigm shift in stormwater management and the announcement of such a shift are recurring phenomena during this period. Outdated “fundamental truths” have been replaced several times by new approaches to make urban water infrastructure “fit for the future”. This process is most dynamic in professional journals and is reflected with a certain delay in legislation, technical rules, and guidelines for planning of new developments. Due to the long service life of urban infrastructure, however, the overall stock is adapting only very slowly. The contribution will present ideas for a more effective implementation of new approaches to urban water resource management in existing urban systems.
