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12th International Convention of Melaka Twin Cities 2012

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Written by Sebastiaan van Herk Wednesday, 09 May 2012 16:31

Sebastiaan van Herk @ 12th International Convention of Melaka Twin Cities 2012

FRG researcher Sebastiaan van Herk was invited to speak on the 12th International Convention of Melaka Twin Cities 2012: be prepared for emergency disaster preparedness and risk reduction, Malaysia. The presentation and supporting paper ¨Challenges in Policy & Practice: Governance of integrated planning & Flood Risk Management¨ were well received and discussed with regional politicians and world-renowned scientists. Countries such as Malaysia face the challenge to decouple its rapid economic growth from increasing exposure to climate hazards. With a pro-active and long-term planning perspective they can leapfrog the technical lock-in in many European countries that was created as a result of immediate structural responses after catastrophes. Mr. van Herk discussed with the chief minister of Melaka State and the mayor of Melaka the many governance challenges related to combining economic and urban development with flood risk management. FRG’s experience evaluating and supporting Dutch programmes such as the Room for the River and the Delta Programme proofed useful. The conference and collaboration is to support the City of Melaka in becoming more resilient. Melaka is already a participant and role model in the Making Cities Resilient Campaign of the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction. Sebastiaan van Herk was invited to become an advocate for that UN campaign and the FRG considers proposing itself as partner of the campaign. Collaboration with our other partner cities can be considered.

Related conference paper:
Van Herk, S. (2012) Challenges in Policy & Practice: Governance of integrated planning & Flood Risk Management. Submitted to 12th International Convention of Melaka Twin Cities 2012: be prepared for emergency disaster preparedness and risk reduction, Malaysia.

Koen Olthuis @ TEDx, Warwick, UK

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Written by William Veerbeek Wednesday, 04 April 2012 10:26

On March 12 Koen Olthuis was asked to give a TEDx-talk in Warwick. He inspired the audience with his vision on Floating City Apps. In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. Koen’s PHD research within the team of FRG Unesco-IHE covers the same subject of consumption urbanism and City Apps as an new approach in upgrading prosperity in wet slums.

Building resilience in New Orleans

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Written by Jeroen Rijke Wednesday, 04 April 2012 08:07

Seven years after Katrina, New Orleans is in the process of identifying and fostering the implementation of innovative and sustainable strategies to reduce New Orleans' and South Louisiana's vulnerability to flooding. A Coastal Master Plan is being developed as a response to coastal erosion that is estimated to cause 1750 square miles land losses (home to 210.000 people) over the next 50 years. Furthermore, various activities are being undertaken to enhance the communities’ shelter and evacuation capacity and in case of floods.
Between 15 and 17 March 2012, an international delegation of Dutch, French and Taiwanese experts in water management from research and the public and private sector participated in the Building Resilience Workshop III to discuss ways to make New Orleans more resilient to floods. Prominent topics that were discussed were multi-level governance using experiences from the Room for the River programme and the multi-level safety approach of preventing floods, mitigating flood damage and evacuation using newly developed scientific knowledge from the EU FP7 project FloodProBE.
The Flood Resilience Group played an important role in this workshop, delivering three key note speeches and participating in several panel discussions with their counterparts from the US. Sebastiaan van Herk delivered a key note speech about social learning for establishing the Dutch multi-level safety approach. Jeroen Rijke’s key note discussed the effectiveness of different governance approaches to establish change and increase adaptive capacity. In the closing conference speech, Chris Zevenbergen presented on the cost effectiveness of flood proofing technologies.
More information: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , www.resilienceworkshop.org

Network of excellent Master students

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Written by Chris Zevenbergen Tuesday, 21 February 2012 21:14

We invite all partners to supply student projects such as internships and/or graduation projects. Our network of excellent Master students grows every day, and we would like to offer them opportunities to perform research and innovation projects at our partner institutions.

Do you have a challenging research question? Do you need an innovative solution to improve your company? Please let us know and we will promote your assignment in our student network. You can send your project description to Martine van Veelen.

http://www.climate-kic.org/about/resources/news-archive/detail/article/2012/01/12/student-projects/

The submerged city

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Written by Chris Zevenbergen Sunday, 27 November 2011 21:11

Floods in Thailand

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.