Urban flooding has become a key issue for many cities around the world. The project ‘INnovations for eXtreme Climatic EventS’ (INXCES) developed new innovative technological methods for risk assessment and mitigation of extreme hydroclimatic events and optimization of urban water-dependent ecosystem services at the catchment level. DEMs (digital elevation maps) have been used for more than a decade now as quick scan models to indicate locations that are vulnerable to urban flooding. In the last years the datasets are getting bigger and multidisciplinary stakeholders are becoming more demanding and require faster and more visual results. In this paper, the development and practical use of DEMs is exemplified by the case study of Bergen (Norway), where flood modelling using DEM is carried out in 2017 and in 2009. We can observe that the technology behind tools using DEMs is becoming more common and improved, both with a higher accuracy and a higher resolution. Visualization tools are developed to raise awareness and understanding among different stakeholders in Bergen and around the world. We can conclude that the evolution of DEMS is successful in handling bigger datasets and better (3D) visualization of results with a higher accuracy and a higher resolution. With flood maps the flow patterns of stormwater are analysed and locations are selected to implement (sub-)surface measures as SuDS (Sustainable Urban Drainage systems) that store and infiltrate stormwater. In the casestudy Bergen the following (sub-)surface SuDS have been recently implemented with the insights of DEMS: settlement storage tank, rainwater garden, swales, permeable pavement and I/T-drainage. The research results from the case study Bergen will be shared by tools to stimulate international knowledge exchange. New improved DEMs and connected (visualization) tools will continue to play an important role in (sub-)surface flood management and climate resilient urban planning strategies around the world.
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International conference Cities, Rain and Risk
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Urban flooding has become a key issue for many cities around the world. With the continuing effects of climate change, this will become more acute and will add to the serious problems already experienced in dense urban areas. Therefore several international stakeholders are in the need of toolsthat can assess the vulnerability to floods and visualization tools that will contribute to international knowledge exchange. Years ago scientists started to use DEMs (digital elevation maps) as quick scans to indicate locations that are vulnerable to urban flooding and the effect of climate change. Now thedatasets are getting bigger and stakeholders are becoming more demanding and require faster and more visual results. The technology using DEMs is becoming more common and improved, both with a higher accuracy and a higher resolution. As an example the flood modeling using DEMs is comparedfor the case Bergen in Norway (figure 1a and 1b) from 2009 and 2016.
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One of the goals for the JPI Water funded project INovations for eXtreme Climatic Events (INXCES) is to provide risk assessment tools for urban hydro-climatic events. Combining disciplines increases the capacity to manage and improve the mitigation of the infrastructure for stormwater in urban areas. INXCES is an European collaboration among the cites Bergen, NO, Groningen, NL, Bucharest, RO, and Luleå, SE.In urban areas infrastructure, such as sewage and drainage systems, is installed in the subsurface to cope with surface water and stormwater runoff. However, the natural patterns are preferred hence human effort. A flood model using Digital Elevation Model (DEM) show the flow patterns of stormwater and areas exposed to flooding. Combining mapping of natural flow paths and floodmodelling, areas prone to flooding is accentuated. The subsurface infrastructure in these prone areas are exposed to larger quantities of water during heavy rainfall events, which is becoming more frequent due to climate change. Results from this interdisciplinary study, will give the water and wastewater authority a risk assessment to pinpoint areas where water infrastructure is more exposedto failure, clogging and damages. Furthermore, we argue that areas that are prone to repeated flooding are more exposed for subsidence in the ground. Larger movement in the ground will cause damage to the infrastructure, such ascracking of pipelines and damage to buildings, roads etc. By combining results mentioned above with subsidence data (InSAR date collected from Satellites), a risk assessment map can show areas to prioritize. Subsurface measures such as SUDS (Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems) can be a resilient solution to a recurrent problem in an urban area, as a remediation to flooding (and drought)and as stabilisation of ground conditions.
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Cities are becoming increasingly vulnerable to climate change, and there is an urgent need to make them more resilient. The Climatescan adaptation tool www.climatescan.nl is applied as an interactive tool for knowledge exchange and raising awareness on Nature-Bases Solutions (NBS) targeting young professionals in ClimateCafes. Climatescan is a citizen science tool created through ‘learning by doing’, which is interactive, open source, and provide more detailed information on Best Management Practices (BMPs) as: exact location, website links, free photo and film material. BMPs related to Innovations for Climatic Events (INXCES) as stormwater infiltration by swales, raingardens, water squares, green roofs subsurface infiltration are mapped and published on social media. Climatescan is in continuous development as more data is uploaded by over 250 people around the world, and improvements are made to respond to feedback from users. In an early stage of the international knowledge exchange tool Climatescan, the tool was evaluated by semi-structured interviews in theClimatescan community with the following result: stakeholders demand tools that are interactive, open source, and provide more detailed information (location, free photo and film material). In 2016 Climatescan (first stage of INXCES) was turned into an APP and within two years the tool had over10,000 users and more than 3,000 international projects. More than 60% of the users are younger than 34 and 51% of users are female, resulting in engagement with an important target group: young professionals. The tool is applied in Climatecafe.nl around the world (The Netherlands, Sweden, Philippines, Indonesia, South Africa) where in a short period of time stakeholders in triple helix context (academia, public and private sector) work on climate related challenges and exchange their knowledge in a café setting. Climatescan has also been used in other water challenges with young professionals such as the Hanseatic Water City Challenge and Wetskills. During the INXCES project over 1000 BMPs related to Innovations for Climatic Events (INXCES) are mapped inall partner countries (figure 1). The points of interest vary from just a location with a short description to a full uploaded project with location, description and summary, photos and videos, presentations, links to websites with more information and scientific papers and books (as Bryggen in Norway: https://www.climatescan.nl/projects/16/detail ).
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Veel waterschappen en gemeenten vragen zich af of de regenwatervoorzieningen die de laatste decennia op veel plaatsen zijn aangelegd, op lange termijn goed functioneren en of de implementatie kosteneffectief is. Onderzoek in Almere leert dat de infiltratiecapaciteiten van wadi’s voldoende zijn om het water binnen enkele uren te verwerken. Bij doorlatende verharding wordt vaak dichtslibbing aangetoond, maar ook na enkele jaren kunnen de infiltratiecapaciteiten nog boven de ingrijpmaatstaf liggen. Bij goed ontwerp, aanleg en beheer kunnen deze regenwatervoorzieningen een goede bijdrage leveren aan het vasthouden, bergen en afvoeren van regenwater in het stedelijk gebied.
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Cities around the world are increasingly using events as a tool to generate a wide range of effects, including image enhancement, income generation, and social cohesion. However, the use of events as an urban policy tool is hampered by the fact that events themselves also have their own objectives, such as making a profit or advancing the agenda of national and international organizations. In some cases, the objectives of the events and the city may coincide, but in other cases, they may not. Therefore, for cities there is a growing challenge in coordinating their events program in order to maximize the benefits for the city as a whole, while also supporting individual events. Many cities have already developed specific events policies and support mechanisms, but these tend to treat events as individual occurrences, rather than as an integral part of the urban ecology. Richards and Palmer have argued that the "eventful city" needs to take a strategic, holistic view of its events portfolio in order to move from being a city full of events to developing "eventfulness." This article considers how some cities are developing more holistic approaches to event policy and eventfulness. In reviewing the events policies of cities worldwide, it identifies three emerging policy models: event-centric policy, sector-centric policy, and network-centric policy. The article further considers the implications of these different models for events and events policies in cities.
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Urbanisation and climate change have an effect on the water balance in our cities resulting in challenges as flooding, droughts and heatstress. Implementation of Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems (SuDS) can help to restore the water balance in cities by storing and infiltrating stormwater into the subsurface to minimise flooding, restoration of groundwater tables to prevent droughts, lowering temperatures by evapotranspiration to fight heatstress. Urban planners and otherstakeholders in municipalities and water authorities struggle with implementing SuDS at locations where infiltration of water seems challenging. Questions arise as: can you infiltrate in countries as The Netherlands with parts under sea level, high groundwater table and low permeable soil? Can you infiltrate in Norway with low permeable or impermeable bedrock and frozen ground most of theyear? How do you find space to implement SuDS in the dense urban areas of Bucharest? These questions are answered by researchers of the JPI Water funded project INovations for eXtreme Climatic Events (INXCES).To answer the question on ‘can we infiltrate stormwater under worse case conditions?’, testing of the hydraulic capacity take place at rainwater gardens in Norway (Bergen and Trondheim) and (bio)swales in the low lying parts of The Netherlands. The first results show that even under these ‘extreme’ hydraulic circumstances the hydraulic capacity (or empty time) is sufficient to infiltratemost of the stormwater throughout the year.INXCES exchanged researchers on an international level, shared research results with stakeholders and sets up guidelines for design, implementation and maintenance of SuDS to promote the implementation of sustainable water management systems throughout the world.One of the tools used to promote SuDS is www.climatescan.nl, an open source online map application that provides an easy-to-access database of international project information in the field of urban resilience and climate adaptation. The tool is able to map several sustainable urban drainage systems as has been done for Norway, The Netherlands, Romania and other countries in the world.The tool is used for engagement with stakeholders within EU projects as INXCES and WaterCoG and resulted in international knowledge exchange on infiltration of stormwater under extreme climate and geohydrolic circumstances.
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In this opinion piece, we establish some key priorities for evidence-based governance to address the increasing threat of heatwave events in Europe, particularly for human health. According to the European Environment Agency (EEA) [1], Europe is warming faster than the global average. The year 2020 was the warmest year in Europe since the instrumental records began, with the range of anomaly between 2.53˚C and 2.71˚C above the pre-industrial levels. Particularly high warming has been observed over eastern Europe, Scandinavia and the eastern part of the Iberian Peninsula. Climate change-related heatwaves are becoming a significant threat to human health and necessitate early action [2]. While financial resources and technological capacities are crucial to aid (local) governments in adapting to and proactively mitigating the threats posed by heatwaves, they are not enough [3]. Akin to flood responses, European countries must prepare for large-scale evacuations of vulnerable citizens (especially older adults living alone) from their homes. Here, we outline three priorities for Europe in the governance domain. These priorities encompass developing and rolling-out heat-health action plans, a stronger role for European Union institutions in regional heatwave governance, and creating a sense of urgency by developing innovative ways of communicating research findings to relevant policy makers and citizens.
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