FloodProBE: technologies for improved safety of the built environment in relation to flood events

The FloodProBE project started as a FP7 research project in November 2009.Floods, together with wind related storms, are considered the major natural hazard in the EU in terms of risk to people and assets. In order to adapt urban areas (in river and coastal zones) to prevent flooding or to be better prepared for floods, decision makers need to determine how to upgrade flood defences and increasing flood resilience of protected buildings and critical infrastructure (power supplies, communications, water, transport, etc.) and assess the expected risk reduction from these measures.The aim of the FloodProBE-project is to improve knowledge on flood resilience and flood protection performance for balancing investments in flood risk management in urban areas. To this end, technologies, methods and tools for assessment purposes and for the adaptation of new and existing buildings and critical infrastructure are developed, tested and disseminated.Three priority areas are addressed by FloodProBE. These are: (i) vulnerability of critical infrastructure and high-density value assets including direct and indirect damage, (ii) the assessment and reliability of urban flood defences including the use of geophysical methods and remote sensing techniques and (iii) concepts and technologies for upgrading weak links in flood defences as well as construction technologies for flood proofing buildings and infrastructure networks to increase the flood resilience of the urban system.The primary impact of FloodProBE in advancing knowledge in these areas is an increase in the cost-effectiveness (i.e. performance) of new and existing flood protection structures and flood resilience measures.     

Assessment of stormwater runoff management practices and governance under climate change and urbanization: An analysis of Bangkok,Hanoi and Tokyo

As human history is changing on many fronts, it is appropriate for us to understand the different perspectives of major global challenges, of which, water is a major priority. The water resources in urban areas are either approaching or exceeding the limits of sustainable use at alarming rates. Groundwater table depletion and increasing flood events can be easily realized in rapidly developing urban areas. It is necessary to improve existing water management systems for high-quality water and reduced hydro-meteorological disasters, while preserving our natural/pristine environment in a sustainable manner. This can be achieved through optimal collection, infiltration and storage of stormwater. Stormwater runoff is rainfall that flows over the ground surface; large volumes of water are swiftly transported to local water bodies and can cause flooding, coastal erosion, and can carry many different pollutants that are found on paved surfaces. Sustainable stormwater management is desired, and the optimal capture measure is explored in the paper. This study provides commentary to assist policy makers and researchers in the field of stormwater management planning to understand the significance and role of remote sensing and GIS in designing optimal capture measures under the threat of future extreme events and climate change. Community attitudes, which are influenced by a range of factors, including knowledge of urban water problem, are also considered. In this paper, we present an assessment of stormwater runoff management practices to achieve urban water security. For this purpose, we explored different characteristics of stormwater runoff management policies and strategies adopted by Japan, Vietnam and Thailand. This study analyses the abilities of Japanese, Vietnamese and Thai stormwater runoff management policies and measures to manage water scarcity and achieve water resiliency. This paper presents an overview of stormwater runoff management to guide future optimal stormwater runoff measures and management policies within the governance structure. Additionally, the effects of different onsite facilities, including those for water harvesting, reuse, ponds and infiltration, are explored to establish adaptation strategies that restore water cycle and reduce climate change-induced flood and water scarcity on a catchment scale.     

Analyzing flood risk and related impacts to urban communities in central Vietnam

This study aims at understanding flood risks and their impact on a community, in order to enhance communities’ resilience and adaptive capacity to these threats. It also investigates the possibility of looking at and handling risk from a resilience point of view. Therefore, while a conventional risk management process is employed in this study, social, physical, economic, and institutional dimensions of resilience are also included in order to grasp the extent of risks and the ways in which communities face, cope with, and recover from flooding. Findings showed that there was no significant difference in the perception of flood risk among household heads educated up to secondary school level, suggesting that they believe floods are purely natural events. Those with a higher level of education (high school and above) (82.7 % of respondents) were aware that flood disasters are the result of hazard and vulnerability combined. In addition, social dynamics were apparently strengthened by such disasters, which resulted in cohesion and mutual help following floods in some wards. Also, households with more sources of income and more savings appear to recover faster than others after a flooding event. With regard to governance and networks, greater efforts have to be made by local institutions to ensure basic functioning during and after disaster events and to invest more into risk reduction activities. However, further studies need to be conducted to clarify the understanding of the impact flood disasters have on the environment and community lives and livelihoods in general, as traditional coping strategies, although still practical, no longer suffice in the face of changes in climate and environment.     

基于GIS的长沙市洪涝灾害风险动态评估

运用GIS技术的空间分析与建模功能构建洪涝灾害风险评估模型,以长沙市地理基础数据、遥感数据、气象水文、社会统计数据为基础,从洪涝灾害的危险性、暴露性、敏感性三个角度出发,对长沙市洪灾风险进行动态评价.结果表明：与1994年相比,2010年长沙市洪灾敏感性有所增加,暴露性上升,洪灾风险增大;从空间分布上看,长沙市区及望城区由于地势平坦,湘江干流贯穿其中,加之经济发达,因而洪灾风险较高;而西部的宁乡县和东部的浏阳市洪灾风险较低;提出了有针对性的防洪措施.该评价结果与实际情况相符,可为洪灾风险管理与决策提供科学依据.     

Advancing urban ecosystem governance in Ljubljana

Extensive green areas generate a recognizable green identity of Ljubljana. Due to the challenges of climate change and urbanization the city's spatial policy highlights revitalization of degraded urban areas, preserving the quality and scope of the existing green network and the protection of multifunctional natural areas surrounding the city. Article describes the project of Rakova Jelša Park as a good example of these policies. With an NGO initiative a former degraded area with illegal dumping and non-indigenous vegetation was transformed into recreational park with increased biocultural diversity. Important lesson of the project is that opening up space for public use not only prevents degradation, but also improves the quality of urban ecosystems. One of the challenges for the city's future sustainable ecosystem development will be a more active cooperation with its citizens in the green infrastructure policy and later also a partial transfer of responsibility for green areas to them.     

Bringing flood resilience into practice: the FREEMAN project

The recent shift in flood risk management concedes that floods cannot be prevented but the impacts on and vulnerability of the risk prone communities can be reduced. Beyond mere structural defence, an integrated risk management approach deploys a diversified set of measures that moderate the economic and social drivers of risk and improve risk governance. In this context, the concept of resilience gains on importance despite the many challenges that obstruct its implementation in management practice. This paper contributes to tackling these challenges and elaborates on opportunities and bottlenecks to bring resilience into practice based on a review of the flood risk management in three case studies in Europe: Flanders (Belgium), Niedersachsen (Germany) and Calabria (Italy). The paper summarizes insights gained on three components of resilience being – institutional interplay, flood management tools and risk communication. The work that has lead to this paper is done under the FREEMAN project (flood resilience enhancement and management), funded under the 2nd CRUE ERA-Net Funding Initiative.     

A review on political factors influencing public support for urban environmental policy

Environmental quality is important to urban residents’ physical, social and psychological well-being. Governments have been formulating and implementing policies to mitigate environmental deterioration in cities. To effectively implement policies and achieve policy goals, gaining sufficient public support is an essential prerequisite; the policies would be in ruins and the government may also suffer from setbacks in other policy areas in the absence of public support. Therefore, to understand what contributes to public support is a crucial task for policymakers. Though current literature on socio-demographic and attitudinal/psychological factors provides fruitful accounts for policy support, a comprehensive examination of political determinants has yet to be established. In response to this, this review paper explores political factors that influence level of policy support based on existing literature. An integrated framework is proposed to explain policy support for urban environmental policy. This paper also discusses the possible directions of future research.     

收缩情境下城市土地利用及其生态系统服务的研究进展

随着国际国内社会经济环境的变化,城市收缩这一新现象逐渐在我国部分城市区域空间中呈现,成为未来新型城镇化转型的挑战之一。在简要梳理城市收缩相关文献的基础上,以土地利用为主线,重点关注收缩情景下的土地利用模拟及其政策、空置土地与城市生态系统服务等方面的相关研究。研究结果表明：（1）当前对城市收缩问题的研究主要集中于人口变动和经济发展维度,对由此引发的土地利用以及生态系统变化关注较少。（2）土地利用模拟在分析和预测收缩情境下的城市土地利用变化上具有较大价值,但不同模型适用于不同研究情景,复合模型将具有更好的解释力。（3）土地利用政策的制定和实施应充分考虑经济社会各方面诉求,绿色空间存储制度是促进收缩城市可持续发展的有力措施。（4）城市收缩产生的空置土地为发展生态系统服务提供了空间,应发展适用于我国城市收缩的生态系统服务评估方法。在我国城镇化进入“存量模式”甚至“减量模式”的背景下,应加大对城市收缩情景下土地利用和生态系统维度的研究,要积极借鉴并整合资源科学、地理学、生态学、管理科学和城市规划等相关学科的研究方法,并紧密结合我国当前城市发展和空间规划所面临的现实问题,促进城市收缩研究的方法创新和收缩城市的可持续发展。     

基于神经网络综合建模的区域城市群发展脆弱性评价——以滇中城市群为例

城市脆弱性是评价城市发展韧性状况的有效测度。目前我国对于城市脆弱性的研究以运用统计学方法评价特殊城市为主,尚未形成对区域城市群具有普遍适用性的科学客观评价方法。以滇中城市群为例,从环境系统、经济系统、社会系统三个方面综合构建城市脆弱性评价体系,采用熵值法和BP神经网络综合建模方法,对2007—2016年10年间滇中城市群的城市脆弱性进行评价。结果表明:滇中城市群的城市脆弱性总体呈现下降趋势,但城市组团之间差异较大,呈现出发展中的不均衡性。评价结果对滇中城市群韧性发展规划具有重要指导意义,为区域城市群发展脆弱性研究提供一种科学评价方法。     

Advancing urban ecosystem governance in New York City: Shifting towards a unified perspective for conservation management

New York City’s extensive municipal park system is home to forests, wetlands, and grasslands that provide important ecological and social benefits to the city’s population. While efforts and programs exist to restore and protect these spaces, management recommendations are complex due to variable conditions in urban natural areas. To advance the management of urban natural areas, the first comprehensive ecological assessment was conducted through a collaborative effort across 4000 ha of natural areas within New York City parkland. Field and spatial data were collected and analyzed to identify the extent of forests, the types of forests, and their conditions. This approach will help guide decision-making and prioritization of natural area management at the regional level by developing unique quantitative targets for urban forests. This project serves as an example of collaboration between private and public institutions advancing the governance of urban natural areas to achieve citywide conservation and policy goals.     

The social and spatial distribution of temperature-related health impacts from urban heat island reduction policies

Cities are developing innovative strategies to combat climate change but there remains little knowledge of the winners and losers from climate-adaptive land use planning and design. We examine the distribution of health benefits associated with land use policies designed to increase vegetation and surface reflectivity in three US metropolitan areas: Atlanta, GA, Philadelphia, PA, and Phoenix, AZ. Projections of population and land cover at the census tract scale were combined with climate models for the year 2050 at 4 km × 4 km resolution to produce future summer temperatures which were input into a comparative risk assessment framework for the temperature-mortality relationship. The findings suggest disparities in the effectiveness of urban heat management strategies by age, income, and race. We conclude that, to be most protective of human health, urban heat management must prioritize areas of greatest population vulnerability.     

A framework for evaluating flood risk governance

Calls to strengthen flood risk governance are echoed across Europe amidst a growing consensus that floods will increase in the future. Accompanying the pursuit of societal resilience, other normative agendas relating legitimacy (e.g. accountability and public participation), and resource efficiency, have become attached to discussions concerning flood risk governance. Whilst these represent goals against which ‘success’ is socially and politically judged, lacking from the literature is a coherent framework to operationalise these concepts and evaluate the degree to which these are achieved. Drawing from cross-disciplinary and cross-country research conducted within the EU project STAR-FLOOD, this paper presents a framework for evaluating the extent to which flood risk governance arrangements support societal resilience, and demonstrate efficiency and legitimacy. Through empirical research in England, this paper critically reflects on the value of this approach in terms of identifying entry points to strengthen governance in the pursuit of these goals.     

Operationalizing urban resilience through a framework for adaptive co-management and design: Five experiments in urban planning practice and policy

The emergent discourse on social-ecological resilience can be understood as a response to the rapid pace of change and severe challenges facing urban areas. This paper reports on one strand of research being carried out as part of the EU FP7 TURAS project (Transitioning to Urban Resilience and Sustainability) that aims to gain insight into the implications of social-ecological resilience thinking on urban planning practice and policy by presenting a unique, trans-disciplinary perspective that has been developed collaboratively between academic, local government and SME partners. A framework for adaptive co-management and design is introduced as a basis for the operationalisation of urban resilience, highlighting the need to actively solve problems collaboratively by exercising imagination and creativity, and presenting a new and potentially fertile source for innovation. Five experiments exploring urban planning practices relating to the framework are put forward as examples of urban resilience in practice: an online crowd-sourcing application for mapping underused spaces; an interactive timeline tool for identifying drivers of change over time; a guidance and signposting tool to help community projects overcome resource barriers; an epistemic network of citizens that exchanges knowledge and resources relating to underused spaces; and an online portal that provides visibility for community groups or projects, and facilitates horizontal networking. The paper describes each experiment, sets out the aims and theoretical contexts, records any initial findings, and reflects on the potential and limitations. Initial findings are discussed relating to the challenges of crowd-sourcing spatial or historical data, and the resource commitment required for the emerging practices. It is observed that the experiments attempt to address fundamental issues in urban planning practice and policy, and involve established and familiar activities. The paper concludes that the research provides insight into what urban resilience might mean in practice and that each experiment has the potential to make a tangible contribution to the transition to urban resilience and sustainability.     

Governing cities reflexively—The biocultural diversity concept as an alternative to ecosystem services

With the aim to embed ecology more forcefully into decision-making, the concept of Ecosystems Services (ES) has gained significant ground among policy-makers and researchers. The increasing recognition of the importance of urban green areas for the quality of life in growing cities has led proponents of ES approaches to argue for an uptake of the approach in urban environmental decision-making. However, the ES approach has been criticized for standing too much at a distance from local communities and their day-to-day practices and for insufficiently taking into account the potential trade-offs between different qualities or preferences. In this paper we argue that other concepts, doing other work, need to be added to the debate about futures of urban governance and research. Biocultural diversity is suggested as one such alternative concept. By its emphasis on diversity, biocultural diversity can account for the many ways in which people live with green areas in the urban landscape, acknowledges the different knowledges this involves, and can reveal conflicts and ambivalence that may be at stake. This sets up for a reflexive, transdisciplinary research process that questions and contextualizes knowledge and worldviews including those of researchers. A reflexive, transdisciplinary research, then, is a productive catalyst for forms of reflexive urban governance that recognise and respond to this diversity and provide platforms for contestation.     

社会—生态系统适应性治理视角下绿地空间恢复力的演化——广州旧城区更新案例

旧城区绿地作为关键的社会—生态系统载体,是城市高质量发展与转型治理亟需关注的问题。构建广州旧城区绿地服务基本单元,引入适应性循环理论的潜力—连通度—恢复力三维框架,构建表征生态、社会与经济服务的绿地景观指标体系,综合评估2000—2018年广州旧城区绿地的空间恢复力水平及适应性转化特征。研究结果显示：旧城区绿地的恢复力演化具有明显的核心区与外围区的时空分异,在拆除重建阶段呈现快速开发—快速释放—重组的转化,在微更新阶段主要呈现开发—保护的提升,并具有提升型、稳定型和更替型的社会—生态系统服务适应性。由此说明,城市更新具有调节社会—生态系统服务治理的效果。其中,绿地形状指数、5 min可达绿地率以及土地利用混合度对核心区绿地恢复力具有显著的促进作用,为外围区治理提供参考。同时,进一步探讨了更新政策与城市绿地空间恢复力演化的关系,为促进旧城区绿地空间更新治理提供社会—生态系统适应性的理论与实证案例研究。     

城市电站库区湖泊水环境影响研究

城市河流上的水电工程的库区可以形成人工湖泊,并作为城市的重要组成部分有助于完善城市功能布局,提升城市形象.水环境对于湖区体现生态景观的价值起着至关重要的作用.以遂宁观音湖为例,就完善水环境管理,对其区域水环境影响进行研究分析;并对已经污染的水体采取相应治理措施;同时做好流域防洪规划,建设防洪设施;对城市水体景观进行统一打造,实现湖区的可持续发展.     

从安全防灾到韧性建设——国土空间治理背景下韧性规划的探索与展望

新形势下城市巨系统面临更多不确定性风险与未知扰动,要求安全防灾规划从目标对象、战略定位、技术手段与规划理念等方面做出适应调整,通过韧性城市建设引领区域安全稳定发展。对韧性城市的概念起源、理论发展与实践探索进行了梳理和评述,并结合我国“多规合一”后的国土空间规划体系改革,对空间治理背景下韧性规划的内涵特征、层级类型、流程形式与公共治理进行认识与思考;并从深化韧性城市的理论构建与机理研究、转变规划编制的设计思路和实践流程、完善韧性实践中的规划传导和尺度治理、关注韧性建设中的基层治理和公众参与四个方面,提出韧性规划的实践路径展望,力求有序推进我国城市公共安全现代化治理建设。     

Renaturing cities using a regionally-focused biodiversity-led multifunctional benefits approach to urban green infrastructure

If a ‘Renaturing of Cities’ strategy is to maximise the ecosystem service provision of urban green infrastructure (UGI), then detailed consideration of a habitat services, biodiversity-led approach and multifunctionality are necessary rather than relying on the assumed benefits of UGI per se. The paper presents preliminary data from three case studies, two in England and one in Germany, that explore how multifunctionality can be achieved, the stakeholders required, the usefulness of an experimental approach for demonstrating transformation, and how this can be fed back into policy. We argue that incorporating locally contextualised biodiversity-led UGI design into the planning and policy spheres contributes to the functioning and resilience of the city and provides the adaptability to respond to locally contextualised challenges, such as overheating, flooding, air pollution, health and wellbeing as well as biodiversity loss. Framing our research to encompass both the science of biodiversity-led UGI and co-developing methods for incorporating a strategic approach to implementation of biodiversity-led UGI by planners and developers addresses a gap in current knowledge and begins to address barriers to UGI implementation. By combining scientific with policy learning and defined urban environmental targets with community needs, our research to date has begun to demonstrate how nature-based solutions to building resilience and adaptive governance can be strategically incorporated within cities through UGI.     

Future risk of flooding: an analysis of changes in potential loss of life in South Holland (The Netherlands)

Potential loss of life is considered an important indicator of flood risk. We examine the future development of potential loss of life due to flooding for a major flood prone area in The Netherlands. The analysis is based on projections and spatial distribution of population under a high economic growth scenario and a loss of life model. Results show that the projected population growth in flood prone areas is higher than average in the Netherlands between 2000 and 2040. Due to this effect the potential number of fatalities is projected to increase by 68% on average for 10 different flood scenarios, not including impacts from climate change and sea level rise. Just sea level rise of 0.30 m leads to an average 20% increase in the number of fatalities. The combined impact of sea level rise and population growth leads to an estimated doubling in the potential number of fatalities. Taking into account increasing probability of flooding due to sea level rise and extreme river discharges, the expected number of fatalities could quadruple by 2040. The presented results give a conservative and upper bound estimate of the increase of the risk level when no preventive measures are undertaken. It is found that the consideration of the exact spatial distribution of population growth is essential for arriving at reliable estimates of future risk of flooding.     

Adapting bridge infrastructure to climate change: institutionalizing resilience in intergovernmental transportation planning processes in the Northeastern USA

Multi-level governance networks provide both opportunities and challenges to mainstream climate change adaptation due to their routine decision-making and coordination processes. This paper explores institutionalizing resilience and adaptation to climate change in the intergovernmental transportation planning processes that address bridge infrastructure in the Northeastern United States (USA), specifically in Vermont and Maine. The research presented here relies on nine interviews with policy-makers and planners, a survey of transportation project prioritization criteria, development of a longitudinal bridge funding database, and its integration with publicly available geospatial data. It presents a novel spatial analysis methodology, a modified version of which could be adopted by transportation agencies for prioritizing scarce adaptation funds. Although transportation agencies are undertaking a variety of mitigation activities to address business-as-usual needs, climate change adaptation and resilience efforts remain underprioritized. Adaptation is a global concern, but impacts vary dramatically between regions and require localized solutions. Bridges and culverts, which are especially vulnerable to climate-induced flooding impacts, have complex maintenance and design processes and are subject to convoluted adaptation planning procedures. Critical gaps in resources and knowledge are barriers to improved adaptation planning. Restructuring the transportation project prioritization procedures used by planning organizations to explicitly include adaptation may provide a novel strategy to institutionalize resilience in transportation. These procedures must be considered in the context of the intergovernmental networks that exist to support transportation infrastructure. Although these networks will likely vary across countries, the approaches introduced here to study and address transportation infrastructure adaptation may be applied to many settings.