Adapting a systems perspective for sectoral coordination: Approaching flood resilience in Houston and Accra

Increasing resilience to flooding is a complex process that requires horizontal and vertical coordination between institutions in policy making and implementation. This paper explores the effect of institutional coordination on managing flood risk in two cities plagued by flooding. Our results show that efforts on building urban flood resilience...

Multi-and interdisciplinary design of urban infrastructure development

Due to the environmental crisis, there is a need for a more conscious and integrating design process within the field of urban infrastructure development. Through cooperation between civil engineering and spatial design resilience of the built environment can be increased. Delft University of Technology investigates interdisciplinary design...

Building with Nature as integrated design of infrastructures

Many people associate Building with Nature with its flagship project, the Sand Motor. This mega-nourishment redefined the role of natural processes in civil engineering projects, demonstrating that instead of ‘do no harm’ as the highest possible supporting goal of coastal infrastructure, the design could incorporate natural processes to attain...

Building with Nature as a cross-disciplinary approach: The role of hybrid contributions

The incentive for this publication was to expand the realm of enquiry around the topic of Building with Nature (BwN), for two main reasons. First to gain an interdisciplinary, and therefore deeper, understanding of BwN as an object of study. Secondly, but no less important, is an understanding of how different forms of knowledge contribute to...

Editorial: Building with Nature perspectives

This publication offers an overview of the latest cross-disciplinary developments in the field of Building with Nature (BwN) for the protection of coastal regions. The key philosophy of BwN is the employment of natural processes to serve societal goals, such as flood safety. The starting point is a systems-based approach, making interventions...

Towards developing a new model for inclusive cities in China: The case of Xiong'an New Area

Along with unprecedented urbanization in the last few decades, cities have experienced rapid social and economic transformation in China. A major challenge facing urban authorities in the immediate future is how to plan and govern cities such that they can serve as inclusive systems where everyone is enabled and empowered to fully participate...

Education for Water Resilient Cities: A one-day symposium for teachers and students for the City We Need

This report is the result of a symposium organised by the department of Urbanism of the Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment of the TU Delft on May 14 2018. with the objective to discuss ideas, methodologies and challenges of a planning and design education for water resilient cities.

The Impact of Urban Planning and Governance on the Historic Built Environment (PICH): Final Report of the JPI-JHEP funded project

This report summarises the findings of the JPI Heritage Plus PICH Project’s nvestigation<br/>of the impact of the reform of urban planning on the historic built environment. The project team conducted twelve in-depth case studies in Italy, the Netherlands,<br/>Norway and the UK covering three settings: the built heritage of historic urban cores,...

Everything is bigger in Texas: Reflection program case ‘Houston Galveston Bay, Texas’

The saying goes that ‘Everything is bigger in Texas.’ This holds true for both the flood risk in the Houston-Galveston Bay Area, and for the complexity of issues that need to be dealt with in order to reduce it – assuming there is agreement that the current risk is unacceptable. There is currently no formal...

Hurricane Harvey Report: A fact-finding effort in the direct aftermath of Hurricane Harvey in the Greater Houston Region

On August 25, 2017, Hurricane Harvey made landfall near Rockport, Texas as a Category 4 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of approximately 200 km/hour. Harvey caused severe damages in coastal Texas due to extreme winds and storm surge, but will go down in history for record-setting rainfall totals and flood-related damages. Across large...

Governance and planning as boundary conditions for flood risk reduction in Texas: Galveston Island’s flood risk challenge

Galveston Island is a barrier island with a population of approximately 60,000, located between Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico on the Texas coast. Due to its location, Galveston is not only on the front line of hurricane-induced storm surges coming from the Gulf, it is also a key site for any flood defense aiming to protect the entire...

A multifunctional answer to multiple questions: EPILOGUE

When the MFFD program took off in 2012, its general goal was to gain a deeper understanding of multifunctional flood defenses, in order to provide a solid foundation for their design, assessment and management. As a point of departure, it assumed that a new generation of explicitly multifunctional flood defenses...

HOUSTON, we’ve got a problem: Introduction program case Houston Galveston Bay Region, Texas (USA)

Various interesting tools were used and/or developed to stimulate knowledge integration in the Multifunctional Flood Defenses program. This chapter will present a diverse collection of these tools, hopefully stimulating others to consider using some of them in future.

Legislation and regulation in spatial planning for multifunctional flood defense design

Can the recent rise of Dutch multifunctional flood defenses be explained by the increased integration between the water and spatial planning sectors, which compels Water Boards to collaborate with municipalities? An enquiry into the changing relations between water managers and municipalities as a result of...

The Eastern Scheldt Survey: A concise overview of the estuary pre- and post barrier - Part 2: SURVEY

The aim of this survey is to give a concise overview of the pre- and post-barrier functioning of the Eastern Scheldt estuary. The survey builds upon the Eastern Scheldt Memo (dated March 2016), which explored possible sources and shortlisted leading publications, key institutes and contacts. In response to the memo’s reception by the...

The Eastern Scheldt Survey: A concise overview of the estuary pre- and post barrier - Part 1: MEMO

The aim of this survey is to give a concise overview of the pre- and post-barrier functioning of the Eastern Scheldt estuary. The survey builds upon the Eastern Scheldt Memo (dated March 2016), which explored possible sources and shortlisted leading publications, key institutes and contacts. In response to the memo’s reception by the...

Delft Delta Design: The Houston Galveston Bay Region, Texas, USA

In 2008, Hurricane Ike devastated Bolivar Peninsula, narrowly missing the more heavily industrialized and populated areas in the region. In the aftermath of the hurricane, the Severe Storm Prediction, Education and Evacuation from Disasters (SSPEED) Center at Rice University in Houston, and Texas A&M University in Galveston (TAMUG) led...

De wortels van de Randstad: Overheidsinvloed en stedelijke hiërarchie in het westen van Nederland tussen de 13de en 20ste eeuw

De Wortels van de Randstad is een onbevooroordeelde, multidisciplinaire studie naar de drijvende krachten achter het verstedelijkingsproces van de Randstad, aan de hand van trendbreuken op de lange termijn. Weinig concepten uit de ruimtelijke ordening hebben het publieke debat zo beïnvloed en zijn tegelijkertijd toch zo ongrijpbaar gebleven als ...