A programme management approach for supporting a transition to integrated flood management in the Netherlands

Abstract

In the Netherlands and many other developed countries, flood management is transitioning from sectoral engineering approaches to more integrated approaches. The 2.3 billion Euro Room for the River programme plays an important role in this transition, because it is the first large scale infrastructure programme in the Netherlands that breaks with a long history of reducing the space for river to flow and that has adopted a multi?level governance approach. Based on a document analysis, face?to?face interviews (n=55) and a quantitative survey (n=151), this paper explores the strengths and weaknesses of a programme management approach, such as is applied in Room for the River, to influence a transition to integrated flood management in the Netherlands. We conclude that the case of the Room for the River programme shows that a goal?oriented programme management style can provide a valuable contribution to transition management. The performance of the programme to establish integrated output relies on a balanced combination of centralised and decentralised governance approaches. However, we have identified that the programme management faces difficulties to successfully transfer the lessons to other water infrastructure programmes. This could slow down a transition to integrated flood management. We recommend combining research insights from programme management and transition management to address this challenge.