| dc.description.abstract | Institutions, like the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, investigated and examined climate change trying to understand and prevent its consequences. Agreements made include using instruments and measures to accommodate excessive rainfall, due to climate change, in order to prevent urban environments prone to flooding. As a result, water-robust and climate proof Dutch urban environments in 2050 is an example of mitigated action undertaken by the government in the Delta Plan Spatial Adaptation.
Present-day, it remains unclear how and when urban planners establish climate change strategies and measures such that urban planning designs result in adequate plans and layouts. Consequently, the purpose of this research was to determine the applicability of the hydraulic modelling instrument 3Di in urban planning processes and the feasibility of moving the evaluation of urban planning designs on water management forwards in the urban planning process (and how 3Di could play a role herein) in order to build climate proof urban environments.
Theory on urban planning processes and interviews with professionals revealed that there is potential to embed water management in the first three phases of the urban planning process as long as water management is considered urgent, actors are willing to consider it and that barriers are overcome. The interviews revealed that professionals think that a hydraulic model could help addressing the importance of water management in urban planning.
To this end, a case study was performed by evaluating the urban planning design of the Olympia district in Almere on water management with 3Di. Flood modelling, using three normative rainfall events, generated high resolution results (e.g. water depths and the time-period of inundation) that provided insight in flood prone locations and functioning of the water system. The results played an important role in work sessions and revealed that new overarching insights concerning the maximum time-period locations can be inundated. These results and the insights gained in work sessions led to substantiated motives, from a water management perspective, to change the urban planning design.
Based on the research results, recommendations for sensitivity analyses of 3Di-input and general additions to the basic principles of 3Di were given. More research is needed on the return period of rainfall events and a framework and a single comprehensive definition for climate proof should be established. Also, more in depth research is needed on the effects of embedding water management at the early stages of the urban planning process. | |
