Water Robust Building  CcSP COM23

In the future the urbanisation process in The Netherlands will continue, resulting in a higher economic and societal value of the urban area. This will therefore lead to an increased vulnerability of this urbanized area to extreme weather conditions. Drought, heat and stress due to excess water can have major consequences for the economy, environment and public health. The negative societal impact to which these situations lead are inevitable.

On top of that, the climate is changing, resulting in an increase in extreme weather conditions. The Netherlands can expect an increase in damage due to these conditions if these effects are ignored. To prevent these kinds of damages, now and in the future, additional focus is needed for spatial planning and urban land management.

The results of the definition study Water Resilient Building offer a methodology and an overview of measures to make the urban area water resilient. This project provides a set of tools to tackle future stress due to the consequences of climate change; the amplification and increase of weather extremes. To embed water resilient building in the process of increasing urbanisation offers all involved stakeholders, for example policy makers, NGO’s and urban developers, the opportunity to reduce risks. Water Resilient Building also offers the possibility to arrange sustainable spatial planning.

Water resilient building is a methodology which is widely recognized as an effective way to ensure our environment is able to cope with climatic changes. Read the project final report or look at potential measures for Water Robust Building in the Dutch book 'Waterrobuust bouwen'.

Three step approach

Three steps structure the negotiation and design process that parties have to go through to select an appropriate set of measures to make a specific urban area more water robust. These three steps are outlined in the figure above.

• Step 1: Vulnerability analysis. A quantitative assessment of the effects and consequences of climate change and of ongoing urbanization on the local system. This local system is analysed with help of the Layers Approach
• Step 2: Decide on a comprehensive strategy to deal with the adverse effects and consequences assessed in Step 1. This strategy is based on the theory of the Vulnerability Framework
• Step 3: Selecting an appropriate set of measures from a catalogue of measures, using the results of Step 1 and Step 2. With help of the instruments and insights developed in Step 1 the effect of this set of measures can be assessed. And if the effect is considered insufficient a new set of measures is to be drafted

Although it is technically possible to reiterate the three step approach a full reprise is not recommended because of the strategic choice made in Step 2. This choice is based on fundamental considerations and it is hard to renegotiate these. Most common will be a long and difficult dialogue in Step 3 on the appropriate set of measures and on the funding.