Re-thinking urban flood management – time for a regime shift

Sörensen, Johanna; Persson, Andreas; Sternudd, Catharina; Aspegren, Henrik, et al. (2016-08-04). Re-thinking urban flood management – time for a regime shift. Water, 8, (8)
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DOI:
| Published | English
Authors:
Sörensen, Johanna ; Persson, Andreas ; Sternudd, Catharina ; Aspegren, Henrik , et al.
Department:
Division of Water Resources Engineering
Dept of Physical Geography and Ecosystem Science
Centre for Geographical Information Systems (GIS Centre)
Department of Architecture and Built Environment
Division of Chemical Engineering
AgriFood Economics Centre, Lund University School of Economics and Management
Division of Risk Management and Societal Safety
Centre for Advanced Middle Eastern Studies (CMES)
MECW: The Middle East in the Contemporary World
LTH Profile Area: Water
Project:
Sustainable Urban Flood Management
Urban flooding in a changing climate
Abstract:
Urban flooding is of growing concern due to increasing densification of urban areas, changes in land use, and climate change. The traditional engineering approach to flooding is designing single-purpose drainage systems, dams, and levees. These methods, however, are known to increase the long-term flood risk and harm the riverine ecosystems in urban as well as rural areas. In the present paper, we depart from resilience theory and suggest a concept to improve urban flood resilience. We identify areas where contemporary challenges call for improved collaborative urban flood management. The concept emphasizes resiliency and achieved synergy between increased capacity to handle stormwater runoff and improved experiential and functional quality of the urban environments. We identify research needs as well as experiments for improved sustainable and resilient stormwater management namely, flexibility of stormwater systems, energy use reduction, efficient land use, priority of transport and socioeconomic nexus, climate change impact, securing critical infrastructure, and resolving questions regarding responsibilities.

Urban flooding is of growing concern due to increasing densification of urban areas, changes in land use, and climate change. The traditional engineering approach to flooding is designing single-purpose drainage systems, dams, and levees. These methods, however, are known to increase the long-term flood risk and harm the riverine ecosystems in urban as well as rural areas. In the present paper, we depart from resilience theory and suggest a concept to improve urban flood resilience. We identify areas where contemporary challenges call for improved collaborative urban flood management. The concept emphasizes resiliency and achieved synergy between increased capacity to handle stormwater runoff and improved experiential and functional quality of the urban
environments. We identify research needs as well as experiments for improved sustainable and resilient stormwater management namely, flexibility of stormwater systems, energy use reduction, efficient land use, priority of transport and socioeconomic nexus, climate change impact, securing critical infrastructure, and resolving questions regarding responsibilities.
Keywords:
Water ; Flood Management ; urban flooding ; resilience ; climate change adaptation ; blue-green urban solutions ; Engineering and Technology ; Social Sciences
ISSN:
2073-4441
LUP-ID:
c18b9406-a5fb-431b-bff5-dbc36678d30c | Link: https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/c18b9406-a5fb-431b-bff5-dbc36678d30c | Statistics

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