Abstract
One common approach to cope with floods is the implementation of structural flood protection measures, such as levees or flood-control reservoirs, which substantially reduce the probability of flooding at the time of implementation. Numerous scholars have problematized this approach. They have shown that increasing the levels of flood protection can attract more settlements and high-value assets in the areas protected by the new measures. Other studies have explored how structural measures can generate a sense of complacency, which can act to reduce preparedness. These paradoxical risk changes have been described as <q>levee effect</q>, <q>safe development paradox</q> or <q>safety dilemma</q>. In this commentary, we briefly review this phenomenon by critically analysing the intended benefits and unintended effects of structural flood protection, and then we propose an interdisciplinary research agenda to uncover these paradoxical dynamics of risk.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 5629-5637 |
| Number of pages | 9 |
| Journal | Hydrology and Earth System Sciences |
| Volume | 22 |
| Issue number | 11 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 30 Oct 2018 |
Funding
1Department of Earth Sciences, Uppsala University, Uppsala, 75236, Sweden 2Centre of Natural Hazards and Disaster Science (CNDS), Sweden 3GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, 14473 Potsdam, Germany 4Institute for Environmental Studies, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, 1081, the Netherlands 5Department of Environmental Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, Kgs. Lyngby, 2800, Denmark 6Centre for Water Resource Systems, Vienna University of Technology, 1040 Vienna, Austria 7School of Geographical Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, BS8 1SS, UK 8Department of Land, Environment, Agriculture and Forestry, Università degli Studi di Padova, Padova, 35122, Italy 9Utrecht University School of Economics (USE.), Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands 10Institute of Earth and Environmental Science, University of Potsdam, 14469 Potsdam, Germany 11SVT, Centre for the Study of the Sciences and the Humanities, University of Bergen, Bergen, 5020, Norway 12Department of Applied Physics, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, 08007, Spain 13Department of Integrated Water Systems and Governance, IHE Delft, Delft, 2601, the Netherlands 14Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Politecnico di Milano, Milan, 20133, Italy 15CNR-IRPI National Research Council – Research Institute for Geo-Hydrological Protection, Rende (CS), 87036, Italy 16Department of Environmental Systems Science, ETH Zürich, Zürich, 8092, Switzerland 17Centre for Water Resource Systems, Vienna University of Technology, 1040 Vienna, Austria Acknowledgements. This work was developed within the activities of the working group on Changes in Flood Risk of the Panta Rhei research initiative of the International Association of Hydrological Sciences (IAHS). Giuliano Di Baldassarre was supported by the European Research Council (ERC) within the project “HydroSo-cialExtremes: Uncovering the Mutual Shaping of Hydrological Extremes and Society”, ERC Consolidator Grant no. 761678. Karsten Arnbjerg-Nielsen was supported by Innovation Fund Denmark through the Water Smart Cities Project, grant 5157-0009B. Philip Bubeck is supported by a Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award and a Leverhulme Research Fellowship. Philip J. Ward and Wouter Botzen received funding from the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) in the form of VIDI grants 016.161.324 and 45214005.
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| Innovationsfonden | 5157-0009B |
| Leverhulme Trust | |
| Royal Society | |
| European Research Council | 761678 |
| Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek | 45214005, 016.161.324 |
