Living with flood risk/The more we know, the more we know we don't know: Reflections on a decade of planning, flood risk management and false precision/Searching for resilience or building social capacities for flood risks?/Participatory floodplain management: Lessons from Bangladesh/Planning and retrofitting for floods: Insights from Australia/Neighbourhood design considerations in flood risk management/Flood risk management – Challenges to the effective implementation of a paradigm shift

Abstract

The flooding of parts of New York in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy in October 2012 provided dramatic images of a global city and world financial centre struggling to cope with a natural disaster.At times, many neighbourhoods, particularly in Manhattan, seemed to struggle to function.This moved beyond those directly affected by flooding in their homes and businesses, to the wider city as critical infrastructure was damaged, including electricity sub-stations leading to hospital evacuations following power-cuts, and the closure of public transport networks along with petrol/gasoline shortages disrupting the mobility of New York citizens.While the initial debate in the aftermath of such flooding events often centres on the immediate recovery efforts, increasingly flood risk (and the potential for increased risk from climate change impacts) raises more fundamental questions concerning how cities and communities should prepare or transform in order to cope with increased exposure to flooding events.International literature on flooding has, until recent years, tended to focus upon flood defence measures to reduce the probability of flooding.However, the potential costs of flooding have driven a renewed interest in flood risk management around the globe.As a result, in many countries, flood risk management is currently undergoing a paradigm shift as it moves beyond a one-dimensional "keep floodwater out" approach, towards a more strategic, holistic and long-term approach characterised by mitigating both flood risk and adaptation, or increasing resilience to flooding events.This is typified by the Dutch "room for the river" approach and also reflected in the enactment of EU legislation in the form of the Water Framework Directive 2000/60/EC (CEC, 2000) and the Floods Directive 2007/60/EC (CEC, 2007).Within this context, spatial planning has increasingly moved centre stage as part of a "whole catchment" framework to risk management.The challenge for spatial planning is multifaceted.Flooding is damaging to the environment, human health and local and regional economies, and the reduction of both the threat and impact of flooding is an issue of international scope and significance.Although flooding is a natural process and provides benefits (e.g. by enriching soils, maintaining natural habitats), it can also generate environmental problems.For example, flash flooding can damage aquatic habitats and contaminated storm water run-off from agricultural land and urban areas creates diffuse pollution and water quality problems (Carter et al., 2009).Additionally, flooding is costly, causing enormous damage to the built environment, housing and commercial property, critical infrastructure and public services, and has a disruptive impact on well-being, quality of life and causes social distress (Newbery et al., 2010).Recent years have been marked by increased flood risk vulnerability caused by intensive urbanisation processes, shifting agricultural practices, outdated urban drainage systems and fragmented policy responses (Howe & White, 2002).Moreover, the impact of climate change processes is likely to increase flooding vulnerability, both inland and coastal -for example caused by sea level rise and storm surges in coastal locations, and increased frequency of extreme precipitation events is expected to increase risks associated with surface, fluvial and groundwater flooding, with consequences for property, livelihoods, infrastructure, agricultural production and ecosystems (EEA, 2008).In terms of physical characteristics of flooding, flood risk management is