Defend or raise? Optimising flood risk reduction strategies

Flood risk reduction can be provided by interventions such as raising land or constructing flood defences. This paper introduces an approach to optimise the selection of risk reduction strategies. It expands existing economic optimization approaches for flood defences, by introducing (largely) analytical formulations to include the effects of...

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...

Real time floodrisk management

The central issue for authorities (as well as the public) is how and when to respond to forecasted extreme water levels on rivers, lakes and along the coast and large-scale flooding is an actual risk. The decision-making process is influenced by contradicting information, overloads and gaps in information, rumours, uncertainties in forecasts,...

Green-blue multifunctional infrastructure: An urban landscape system design new approach

Cities exhibit unique and ever-changing spatial layouts formed by nested natural and socio-economic systems, sub-systems and components resulting from exchange, interaction, and interdependency processes. In this context, managing surface water in urban areas requires new approaches that integrate the knowledge about territorial patterns and...

Issues and challenges in flood risk management: Editorial for the special issue on flood risk management

Recent flood-related disasters (Japan, Thailand, US, Australia) emphasize the need for an effective management of flood risks. As an introduction to this special issue, this editorial summarizes some of the key challenges in the field. Flood risk management needs to recognize the interconnections between infrastructures, economic systems and the...

Flood Risk and Water Management in the Netherlands

French version: Le cadre législatif et organisationnel de la gestion du risque d’inondation aux Pays-Bas - http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:87b38e7a-913e-45da-8408-87684e91c7c6 As in most countries legislation for flood risk management and crisis management in the Netherlands was driven by disasters. European Directives increasingly influenceour...

Storm over Holland 2050: A resilient society survives the rising water

The project is based on the fictional notion of a storm similar to Katrina hitting the Netherlands, and explores new approaches and ideas for dealing with the impact. The project resulted in a new concept in which self-reliant communities play a key role. The concept we have developed is not intended as a readymade, comprehensive alternative to...

Towards Sustainable Flood Risk Management in the Rhine and Meuse River Basins

Flood risk (defined as a result of flood probability and potential damage) along Rhine and Meuse rivers is expected to increase in two ways: A. Climate change will cause a significant increase in the probability of extreme floods (according to a majority of climate change scenarios). B. The potential damage of floods (the level of investments in...

Proceedings of the IRMA SPONGE Final Working Conference

Many important developments are currently taking place in the area of flood risk management in Europe. The IRMA-SPONGE Umbrella Program aims to contribute to these developments by co-ordinating and integrating 13 research projects, dealing with many aspects of flood risk management along the rivers Rhine and Meuse, in such a way that the output...

Coping with floods: A comparative study of strategies used in Vietnam, China and USA

Throughout history, rivers have provided people with ideal settings for development, which includes fertile farmland, water supply, convenient waterway for transportation and commerce, waste disposal and energy generation, which are essential for the expansion of human civilisation. Ironically, rivers often flood their banks, threatening the...

An Inventory of Measures and Solutions Coping with Floods around the World

From the very earliest times, man has sought to reduce the damaging impact of floods. However, despite a growing understanding of flood hydrology, plus the application of an increasingly complex technology and the injection of progressively larger capital sums, flood losses continue to rise. The concentration was principally placed on the...