The submerged city
Written by Chris Zevenbergen Sunday, 27 November 2011 21:11
As of the beginning of mid of October Thailand is facing one of the most disastrous floods in history. The flooding had claimed about 450 lives, affecting more than 3 million households, displacing tens of thousands of people from their homes. Moreover, the flood has disrupted industries in which Thailand plays a significant role in the global supply chain. The waters have entirely submerged seven industrial estates with a total investment of 0.4 trillion baht. In Bangkok, the flood water is now subsiding and many previously affected neighborhoods are now focusing on cleaning up.
Chris Zevenbergen was speaker at a seminar in Bangkok on November 19 organized by ASA. ASA is a non-profit organization representing more than 10,000 architects from all over Thailand. The seminar has been attended by representatives of BMA (Bangkok Metropolitan Administration) and the senior government and by experts. Central theme of the seminar were the causes and remedies of the current flooding of Bangkok. The seminar concluded with recommendations for further actions and an international forum will be organized by PRCUD (Pacific Rim Council Urban Development) in spring 2012. The Flood Resilience Group will attend this forum.
Housing recovery project of flood victims in Taiwan
Written by Chris Zevenbergen Thursday, 30 June 2011 22:31
As part of an EU –Taiwanese scientific exchange program on Climate Change and Sustainability Chris Zevenbergen, visited Shalin Tzu Chi village (appr. 60 km from Kaohshiung), Taiwan, on June 24. This village is part of a rebuilding project to provide new and safe homes for the victims from Xiaolin of typhoon Marakot. The rebuilding project is being considered as one of the most successful housing recovery projects of flood victims in Asia. A key focus is supporting the victims to appropriate housing that suits their culture and household’s needs. Volunteers (of the Tzi Chi Foundation) provided personal support, helping people to take care of their own and to start a new life again.
Typhoon Morakot caused catastrophic damage in Taiwan, leaving more than 600 people dead and roughly $3.3 billion USD in damages. The typhoon produced unprecedented amounts of rainfall, peaking at 2,777 mm, surpassing the previous record of 1,736 mm set by Typhoon Herb in 1996. The extreme amount of rain triggered enormous mudslides and severe flooding throughout southern Taiwan. One mudslide buried the entire town of Xiaolin killing an estimated 500 people in the village alone. Immediately after the typhoon, large civilian and military search-and-rescue operations were deployed. Helicopters were sent to numerous mountain villages, including Xiaolin, in an attempt to rescue locals who were unable to escape by foot.
Adaptive Waterscapes - Designing water resilient urban environments
Written by Taneha K. Bacchin Tuesday, 24 May 2011 16:32
Advanced Course / Workshop on water management, urban planning and landscape architecture.
Adaptive Waterscapes_Designing Water Resilient Urban Environments
Porto Alegre, 29th August – 10th September 2011.
Announcement:
The course will last for 2 weeks in which graduate students and young professionals develop analyses, concepts and designs in a 'pressure cooker'-environment. Divided into a number of working groups, the teams will be supervised by invited professors and led by researchers and lectures in water and flood risk management, urban planning and environmental design and a group of international architects with backgrounds from internationally renowned offices from the Netherlands. Participants should be attending postgraduate programmes, in the last years of their graduate studies, or graduated recently, in the domain of Architecture, Urban Planning, Landscape Design, Civil and Environmental Engineering. While the focus of the study will be on Porto Alegre, participants from other Brazilian states and South American countries are targeted for participation.
All invited experts will give lectures on international examples from their practice, providing an overview of advances in urban planning, landscape design and flood risk management. The case study of Porto Alegre will encourage critical discussions about the relationship between urbanization processes, environmental impacts and frequent flood events in Brazilian cities. Professionals from the Public Sector are specially invited to attend the Expert Meetings Seminars during the second week of the Course.
2nd stakeholder workshop FloodProBe in Trondheim
Written by Chris Zevenbergen Saturday, 21 May 2011 13:39
The 2nd stakeholder workshop of FloodProBe, which took place in Trondheim on 18-20 May, was successfully completed. FloodProBe is a European (FP7) research project with the objective to provide cost-effective responses for flood risk reduction in urban areas. FRG members Berry Gersonius and Chris Zevenbergen are both involved in Workpackage 2 and 4 of FloodProbe. Workpackage 2 is directed to further develop models and tools to better understand the flood vulnerability of critical infrastructure and buildings. The activities include amongst others an assessment of the secondary impacts. In workpackage 4 emerging technologies such as smart shelters, floating infrastructure (life lines), multiple flood defences, and flood resilient buildings are being further developed and assessed on their efficiency. Particular attention is being paid to the development of guidelines to fostering implementation and widespread uptake. Pilot studies do play an important role in this process as they provide the context in which these technologies will be further tested on their applicability and efficiency. The objective of the 2nd stakeholder workshop was to further align the research activities of FloodProBe and the ‘on the ground’ needs of the stakeholders associated with the pilot areas. Important conclusions drawn from the three days workshop were (i) the necessity to have projects in which the value of the concepts and technologies of FloodProBe will be demonstrated (proof of concept) and (ii) the growing importance of the role of the private sector in providing the financial means and catalytic power needed for their widespread uptake and dissemination. Further information is available on www.floodprobe.eu.
Resilient Tampa Bay 2011
Written by Berry Gersonius Friday, 11 March 2011 10:04
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