Surface water flood risk and resilience

In this blog Emily O’Donnell reports on the key messages from the CIWEM (Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management) Surface Water Management 2018 conference (17th October). The aim of the conference was to provide a review of the progress of flood risk management, resilience and response in the UK since the publication of the …

Using System Dynamics for Sustainable Water Management in Ebbsfleet: Part 3

This blog continues from Part 2 and presents a preliminary causal loop diagram created by the research team using the metrics and variables identified by the stakeholders in the last three workshops. It should be stressed that this is an iterative process. This will be presented to the stakeholders, whom will reiterate it over the next …

SUDSnet International conference and network

In this blog Vladimir Krivtsov shares his very positive impressions of the recent SUDSnet conference, which he had the pleasure to attend at the end of August 2018. It took place at Coventry University, and was dedicated to the celebration of 15 years of SUDSnet’s existence. SUDSnet is a UK-wide network for researchers, practitioners, agencies, developers …

Human-Environment Interactions and the El Niño Costero floods in Piura, Northern Peru

In this blog, Leon Kapetas discusses flooding, vulnerability and risk management in Piura, Peru. When Piura’s civil protection team asked residents to evacuate their villages in Piura’s river floodplain, they hesitated to leave. They knew that a flood was going to arrive soon and put themselves and their properties at risk, but they also knew …

Using System Dynamics for Sustainable Water Management in Ebbsfleet: Part 2

In a previous blog (System Dynamics Part 1), we gave a presentation of the Ebbsfleet case study, summarised what delivering a System Dynamics model could entail and began the process of developing the model by defining the problem. In this blog post, we will go over the next step, the definition of metrics and variables, while …

Using System Dynamics for Sustainable Water Management in Ebbsfleet: Part 1

In this blog, the first in a series on the use of system dynamics for developing a sustainable urban water management strategy in Ebbsfleet, colleagues from across the Urban Flood Resilience consortium outline plans for using this novel participatory technique, and report on the outcomes of the first modelling workshop. Introduction and case study site …

Urban Fluvial Geomorphology

After completing her PhD in fluvial geomorphology at Cranfield University together with Arup and Leeds City Council on the Leeds Flood Alleviation Scheme, Kim joined the EPSRC Urban Flood Resilience research consortium in October 2017. In this blog post, she reflects on how insights from fluvial geomorphology can be applied to the urban environment in …

The Need for Multi-functional Design

In this blog, Dick Fenner examines how the multi-functional design of sustainable drainage systems can enhance the multiple benefits they can produce across an urban landscape. Introduction Urban drainage systems that incorporate elements of green infrastructure (SuDS/GI) are central features in Blue-Green and Sponge Cities. Such approaches provide effective control of stormwater management whilst generating …

How are transport networks going to become more resilient to flood risk?

In this blog, Dr David Dawson examines flood risk on the physical transport network and some potential developments for improving urban flood risk by connecting multiple infrastructure systems. Plumber, ‘Sorry Transport Secretary, you have a leak!’ Transport Secretary, ‘Well, how bad is it?’ The Issue The extent of flood risk across our transport networks is …

Restoring the Dignity of Rivers

In this blog, Professor Colin Thorne shares with us his ‘restoring the dignity of rivers’ speech from the River Restoration Northwest Speaker Series given in Seattle, 23 May 2017. ‘everything has either a price or a dignity.  Anything that has a price can be replaced by something else as its equivalent, but anything that is above all price, …