scholarly journals Assessing the Capacity to Govern Flood Risk in Cities and the Role of Contextual Factors

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (8) ◽  
pp. 2869 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven Koop ◽  
Fabian Monteiro Gomes ◽  
Laura Schoot ◽  
Carel Dieperink ◽  
Peter Driessen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Flood Risk ◽  
Contextual Factors ◽  
Public Awareness ◽  
Capacity Development ◽  
Institutional Setting ◽  
Storm Events ◽  
Urban Flood ◽  
Governance Capacity ◽  
Flood Probability

Sea level rise and increased storm events urge cities to develop governance capacity. However, a cohesive conceptual and empirical-based understanding of what governance capacity implies, how to measure it, and what cities can learn, is largely lacking. Understanding the influence of context is critical to address this issue. Accordingly, we aim to identify crosscutting contextual factors and how they prioritise different elements of governance capacity to address urban flood risk. In doing so, a framework of nine conditions and 27 indicators is applied in two Dutch cities and two cities in the United Kingdom. Three crosscutting contextual factors are identified that may explain differences in capacity-development priorities: (1) flood probability and impact; (2) national imposed institutional setting; and, (3) level of authority to secure long-term financial support. Capacity-priorities include, the recent political devolution in the UK, which emphasizes the role of citizen awareness, stakeholder engagement, entrepreneurial agents, and the overall necessity for local capacity-development. The Dutch focus on flood safety through centralised public coordination reduces flood probability but inhibits incentives to reduce flood impacts and lowers public awareness. In conclusion, the three identified contextual factors enable a better understanding of capacity-building priorities and may facilitate learning between cities.

scholarly journals Assessing the Capacity to Govern Flood Risk in Cities and the Role of Contextual Factors

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven Koop ◽  
Fabian Monteiro Gomes ◽  
Laura Schoot ◽  
Carel Dieperink ◽  
Peter Driessen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Flood Risk ◽  
Contextual Factors ◽  
Public Awareness ◽  
Institutional Setting ◽  
Storm Events ◽  
Urban Flood ◽  
Governance Capacity ◽  
Flood Probability ◽  
The Uk

Sea level rise and increased storm events, urge cities to develop governance capacity. However, a cohesive conceptual and empirical-based understanding of what governance capacity implies, how to measure it, and what cities can learn, is largely lacking. Understanding the influence of context is critical to address this issue. Accordingly, we aim to identify crosscutting contextual factors and their influence in impeding, enhancing or prioritising different elements of governance capacity to address urban flood risk. By assessing governance capacity through nine conditions and 27 indicators in two Dutch and two cities in the UK, three crosscutting contextual factors are identified: 1) flood probability and impact, 2) national imposed institutional setting, and 3) level of authority to secure long-term financial support. We found that contextual factors explain differences in urban capacity-priorities within and between both countries. The institutional setting in the UK and recent political devolution emphasized the role of citizen awareness, stakeholder engagement, entrepreneurial agents, and the overall necessity for local capacity-development. The Dutch focus on flood safety through centralised public coordination reduces flood probability but also inhibits incentives to reduce flood impacts and reduced public awareness. In conclusion, the three identified contextual factors enable a better understanding of capacity-building priorities.

scholarly journals The Role of Green Infrastructure Solutions in Urban Flood Risk Management

10.1596/25112 ◽  
2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Salman Anees Soz ◽  
Jolanta Kryspin-Watson ◽  
Zuzana Stanton-Geddes
Keyword(s):  
Risk Management ◽  
Green Infrastructure ◽  
Flood Risk ◽  
Flood Risk Management ◽  
Urban Flood ◽  
Urban Flood Risk

Future directions in Blue-Green Infrastructure research

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emily O’Donnell
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
Green Infrastructure ◽  
Flood Risk ◽  
Social Practice ◽  
Green Space ◽  
Natural Capital ◽  
Urban Flood ◽  
Community Preferences ◽  
Urban Flood Risk

<p>As global cities rethink their approaches to urban flood risk and water management in response to climate change, accelerating urbanisation and reductions in public green space, Blue-Green Infrastructure (BGI) is gaining increasing recognition due to the advantages of multifunctional BGI solutions over traditional piped drainage and grey infrastructure. BGI, including green and blue roofs, swales, rain gardens, street trees, ponds, urban wetlands, restored watercourses, reconnected floodplains, and re-naturalised rivers, is designed to turn ‘blue’ (or ‘bluer’) during rainfall events in order to reduce urban flood risk. In addition to managing flood risk and increasing water security, BGI generates a range of socio-cultural, economic and environmental co-benefits that help city authorities tackle other urban challenges and ultimately improve the quality of life of city dwellers.</p><p>Extensive research over the last decade has focused on improving knowledge of BGI systems in several broad areas, including: hydrological and hydraulic modelling of water flow through BGI assets; biochemical assessments of sediment and water quality; public preferences; identification and evaluation of BGI co-benefits, and; BGI planning and governance. Emerging research into adaptation pathways, natural capital accounting and social practice approaches for understanding community preferences demonstrate how BGI research is moving beyond hydrodynamic modelling to explore decision making under future uncertainty and placing greater emphasis on the role of community preferences in designing BGI that is accepted and supported by those who directly benefit.</p><p>This presentation will explore these emerging research areas, particularly focusing on the need for interdisciplinary research into BGI to enable the challenges and opportunities to be fully appreciated. Current knowledge gaps that present research opportunities in BGI will also be discussed, including the need for rigorous assessment criteria to determine the success of multifunctional BGI systems; greater investigation of the social benefits of BGI and the value people place on different types of BGI; the role of implicit perceptions in designing BGI assets, and; the role of urban watercourses as multifunctional BGI corridors able to safely convey stormwater while boosting water quality, providing multiple urban pathways (active transport, wildlife movements, etc.) and increasing green space in cities.</p>

Flood hazard and management: a UK perspective

2006 ◽  
Vol 364 (1845) ◽  
pp. 2135-2145 ◽  
Author(s):  
Howard S Wheater
Keyword(s):  
Flood Risk ◽  
Capital Expenditure ◽  
Flood Hazard ◽  
Public Awareness ◽  
Flood Frequency ◽  
Flood Protection ◽  
Water Flooding ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
The Impact

This paper discusses whether flood hazard in the UK is increasing and considers issues of flood risk management. Urban development is known to increase fluvial flood frequency, hence design measures are routinely implemented to minimize the impact. Studies suggest that historical effects, while potentially large at small scale, are not significant for large river basins. Storm water flooding within the urban environment is an area where flood hazard is inadequately defined; new methods are needed to assess and manage flood risk. Development on flood plains has led to major capital expenditure on flood protection, but government is attempting to strengthen the planning role of the environmental regulator to prevent this. Rural land use management has intensified significantly over the past 30 years, leading to concerns that flood risk has increased, at least at local scale; the implications for catchment-scale flooding are unclear. New research is addressing this issue, and more broadly, the role of land management in reducing flood risk. Climate change impacts on flooding and current guidelines for UK practice are reviewed. Large uncertainties remain, not least for the occurrence of extreme precipitation, but precautionary guidance is in place. Finally, current levels of flood protection are discussed. Reassessment of flood hazard has led to targets for increased flood protection, but despite important developments to communicate flood risk to the public, much remains to be done to increase public awareness of flood hazard.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document