With increasing societal interest to use urban surface water for different use functions, insight into the functional quality of these waters is needed to support function-oriented water management. This thesis provides a novel assessment framework in the form of Suitability Indices for single human use functions of urban surface water. The framework enables assessing the suitability of urban surface water for a wide variety of use functions in a consistent manner. Application of the framework resulted in novel insights on the suitability of manmade and highly modified water bodies in European delta cities. The results also demonstrate how the SIs can be used to identify opportunities to improve functional quality. These insights can support function-oriented planning, design and maintenance of urban surface waters.