Interdisciplinary Design of Vital Infrastructure to Reduce Flood Risk in Tokyo’s Edogawa Ward

Abstract

Engineering for flood resilience of dense coastal regions often neglects the resultant impact on urban design quality. Vital subsurface infrastructure such as hydraulic systems, water networks, civil construction, transport, energy supply and soil systems are especially important in shaping the urban environment and integrating resilience. However, the complexity and resource intensive nature of these engineering domains make it a challenge to incorporate them into design measures. In the process of planning, this impedes proactive collaboration between the design and engineering communities. This study presents a collaborative design engineering exercise undertaken to find spatial solutions to flood-prone Edogawa ward in Tokyo, Japan. The team included urbanists, hydraulic engineers, water resource managers, and landscape architects. Hydraulic engineering solutions were combined with spatial planning methods to deliver two alternative strategies for the chosen site. Each alternative was then evaluated for its urban design quality and effectiveness in reducing flood risk. The exercise highlighted that successful design requires comprehensive interdisciplinary collaboration to arrive at a sustainable bargain between hard and soft measures.

Multi- and interdisciplinary design of urban infrastructure development

“…When asking more into aspects (II-8) the students overall agree that individual personalities and the size of the group have the most effect, culture and local counterparts some effect, and gender has least effect on the interdisciplinary work. The six case studies resulted in three scientific papers (one published (Krishnan et al, 2019), two under review), seven group reports, one preliminary thesis and 12 MSc graduation theses (Areso Rossi et al, 2018;Broere et al, 2019;Claassen et al, 2018;Dobbelsteen, 2018;Filipouskaya, 2019;Glasbergen, 2018;Höller and van de Wiel, 2019;Li et al, 2019, Möhring, 2018Mujumdar, 2019;Mustaqim, 2018;Nederlof, 2019;Prida Guillén, 2019;Rao, 2019;Roubos, 2019;Salet, 2019;Vafa, 2018;Van den Berg et al, 2019;Van Dijk, 2018;Van Driel, 2018;Van Klaveren et al, 2019;Yasaku, 2018Yasaku, , 2019. The group reports either focused on the interdisciplinary process or the results, while projects carried out as graduation theses go more in depth than in breadth across the interdisciplinary scope.…”

A Review on Coastal Urban Ecology: Research Gaps, Challenges, and Needs

“…Most of the articles published in coastal urban ecology have been developed in large cities of 1 to 5 million inhabitants (41%), while other city categories do not exceed 18%. More than 55% of articles were carried out in cities with more than 1 million people, including very large cities such as Los Angeles in USA (Barcelona, 1979), Osaka in Japan (Yamazaki et al, 2007), Tianjin in China (Peng et al, 2011), Bangkok in Thailand (Burnett et al, 2007), and megacities with more than 10 million people such as Shanghai in China (Li et al, 2018), Tokyo in Japan (Krishnan et al, 2019), New York in USA (Washburn et al, 2013), Buenos Aires in Argentina (Cardo et al, 2014). Coastal areas with <100,000 inhabitants presented only 10% of articles.…”

Experimental Investigation of Levee Erosion during Overflow and Infiltration with Varied Hydraulic Conductivities of Levee and Foundation Properties in Saturated Conditions

“…The heavy rains in western Japan in July 2018 also caused widespread devastation to riverine infrastructure, including Okayama Prefecture, resulting in numerous fatalities and significant damage [15]. The mentioned examples highlight the susceptibility of Japan's river embankment systems to extreme weather events, emphasizing the importance of enhanced design and management approaches to mitigate the risk of failure [16,17]. There are several factors that cause the collapse of an embankment system during a flood event.…”