Navigating complexity: agent-based simulations for climate-resilient economies

Amid the Anthropocene, the escalating threat of flooding, driven by extreme rainfall and sea-level rise, challenges societies worldwide. In the last two decades, floods have impacted billions and inflicted colossal economic losses. Concurrently, the global trend towards urbanization predicts that by 2050, about 70\% of the global population will...

A system perspective on flood risk in polder drainage canal systems

A major part of the Netherlands is prone to flooding: roughly 60%. Therefore, a large system of flood defences protects the country from flooding. These flood defences are divided into primary and regional flood defence systems. Primary flood defences protect areas against catastrophical flooding events from the sea, big lakes and major rivers,...

Optimal system safety targets: Incorporating hydrodynamic interactions in an economic cost-benefit analysis for flood defence systems

Historically, people in flood-prone areas world-wide have (to a certain degree) accepted the risk of being flooded because of the benefits that flood-prone areas can provide; examples of such benefits are rich agricultural lands or trade advantages. Acceptance and benefits notwithstanding, people living in flood-prone areas have tried, and will...

Estimating the impacts of urban growth on future flood risk: A comparative study

The unprecedented growth of cities has a significant impact on future flood risk that might exceed the impacts of climate change in many metropolitan areas across the world. Although the effects of urbanisation on flood risk are well understood, assessments that include spatially explicit future growth projections are limited. This comparative...

Operational flood forecasting, warning and response for multi-scale flood risks in developing cities

Flood early warning systems are recognized as one of the most effective flood risk management instruments when correctly embedded in comprehensive flood risk management strategies and policies. Many efforts around the world are being put in place to advance the components that determine the effectiveness of a flood early warning system. The aim...

Flood risk analysis for metropolitan areas – a case study for Shanghai

In Shanghai, the main threat to the city’s safety is a typhoon induced storm surge in combination with a high astronomic tide in the Huangpu River. Historical flood events have shown that the weakness of the floodwall, with potential overtopping and breaching along the Huangpu River and its branches, has caused great economic damage and loss of...

Spatial planning and urban resilience in the context of flood risk: A comparative study of Kaohsiung, Tainan and Rotterdam

Spatial planning is increasingly being considered as an important mechanism in coping with flood risk due to climate change. One of the reasons for this is that engineering approaches are increasingly expensive and cannot provide complete certainty of protection against climate-related floods. The thesis examines whether and how spatial planning...

Probabilistic Design of Coastal Flood Defences in Vietnam

This study further develops the method of probabilistic design and to address a knowledge gap in its application regarding safety and reliability, risk assessment and risk evaluation to the fields of flood defences. The thesis discusses: - a generic probabilistic design framework for assessing flood defence systems; - statistical techniques in...