A spatial framework to explore needs and opportunities for interoperable urban flood management

Abstract

<jats:p>Managing current and future urban flood risks must consider the connection (i.e. interoperability) between existing (and new) infrastructure systems to manage stormwater (pluvial flooding). Yet, due to a lack of systematic approaches to identify interoperable flood management interventions, opportunities are missed to combine investments of existing infrastructure (e.g. drainage, roads, land use and buildings) with blue-green infrastructure (e.g. sustainable urban drainage systems, green roofs, green spaces). In this study, a spatial analysis framework is presented combining hydrodynamic modelling with spatial information on infrastructure systems to provide strategic direction for systems-level urban flood management (UFM). The framework is built upon three categories of data: (i) flood hazard areas (i.e. characterize the spatial flood problem); (ii) flood source areas (i.e. areas contributing the most to surface flooding); (iii) the interoperable potential of different systems (i.e. which infrastructure systems can contribute to water management functions). Applied to the urban catchment of Newcastle-Upon-Tyne (UK), the study illustrates the novelty of combining spatial data sources in a systematic way, and highlights the spatial (dis)connectivity in terms of flood source areas (where most of the flood management intervention is required) and the benefit areas (where most of the reduction in flooding occurs). The framework provides a strategic tool for managing stormwater pathways from an interoperable perspective that can help city-scale infrastructure development that considers UFM across multiple systems.</jats:p> <jats:p>This article is part of the theme issue ‘Urban flood resilience’.</jats:p>

A review of modelling methodologies for flood source area (FSA) identification

“…The lack of subsurface drainage representation is an issue not just within approaches of FSA identification, but also for the wider topic of flood modelling. However, the representation of piped drainage system becomes important when studying FSAs, as these are a critical piece of infrastructure for managing water within urban areas (Dawson et al 2008(Dawson et al , 2020Möderl et al 2009;Lim 2016;Bertsch et al 2017;Vercruysse et al 2019). Underground drainage systems are used to drain water away and reduce runoff within urban areas through the use of storm-water inlets (Bazin et al 2014;Jang et al 2018).…”

“…For example, the identification of water depths and extents at specific locations supported the development and use of hazard mapping and damage assessments (Apel et al 2009;Koivumäki et al 2010;Teng et al 2017). Although hazard identification is critical from a flood protection perspective, a clearer understanding of the whole catchment contribution to flood risk will improve the scope for broader and/or alternative interventions (Saghafian and Khosroshahi 2005;Dawson et al 2020).…”

“…Dealing with floodwater at its source and minimising flood risk in critical locations (e.g. within the built environment) is becoming an increasingly important area of FRM and hence flood modelling (De Vleeschauwer et al 2014;Fletcher et al 2015;Dawson et al 2020). As such, researchers are revisiting the concepts of VSA to help identify the sources of flooding and steer integrated FRM with more systemic approaches and methodologies.…”

“…Stateof-the-art benchmarking reviews are also available for many flood modelling packages (Zoppou 2001;Syme et al 2004;Hunter et al 2008;Néelz and Pender 2013). Significant literature is available on flood mitigation and management strategies such as structural flood protection, sustainable urban drainage systems (SUDS), sponge cities, and blue-green infrastructure (BGI) (Van Der Weide 2011; Kryžanowski et al 2014;Jato-Espino et al 2016;Ghofrani et al 2017;Dawson et al 2020). Approaches and methods related to FSA identification, however, are currently poorly documented and disparately published.…”

Editorial: great floods have flown from simple sources

“…Their paper investigates if moderating water levels in urban receiving watercourses can be achieved by NFM to allow free drainage at frequently submerged drainage outlets, in this case from a housing estate in Bridport. A parallel systems approach is taken by Dawson et al [13]. They combine hydrodynamic modelling with spatial information on infrastructure systems to explore how flood management interventions can be inter-operably connected.…”