Design of a value-based and forward-looking framework to assess flood resilience

In urbanized deltas worldwide, flood resilience is under pressure due to climate change and urbanization. Traditional approaches to enhance flood safety typically prioritize flood protection over spatial planning and often neglect climatic and societal uncertainties. As such, they may fall short of improving resilience in a more integrated fashion, and on the longer term. Yet, as frameworks that support decision-makers in selecting measures continue to assess flood measures using criteria such as efficiency and effectiveness, more integral and forward-looking measures may not be selected.
To address this, we develop an assessment framework that incorporates diverse societal values and forward-looking criteria within the assessment of flood measures, empowering practitioners to make forward-looking decisions. Forward-looking decisions aim to enhance resilience on the long-term by explicitly considering future developments and uncertainties. This framework will be applied in the deltaic region of Zwolle, the Netherlands, where a diverse consortium further develops a flood resilient landscapes approach. This approach integrates flood protection and spatial planning, while creating additional public value by explicitly exploring and addressing future narratives and uncertainties.
Adopting a Dialogical Action Research (DAR) methodology, we combine theoretical and practical knowledge. In DAR, the researcher designs an action, whereafter a practitioner conducts the action. Through a combination of literature review, semi-structured interviews, and workshops, we complement conventional assessment frameworks with value-based and forward-looking criteria, such as robustness and flexibility. This assessment framework is tested by practitioners in a workshop setting, with subsequent evaluation by the researchers to improve the framework iteratively. We anticipate that the methodology and assessment framework proposed in this study will serve as a valuable tool in the implementation of flood measures that promote resilience. By providing practitioners with the means to navigate future uncertainties in a forward-looking way, we aim to enhance flood resilience in urbanized deltas