This paper analyses the influence of climate change and land development on future flood risk for selected Austrian flood-prone municipalities. As part of an anticipatory micro-scale risk assessment we simulated four different inundation scenarios for current and future 100-and 300-year floods (which included a climate change allowance), developed scenarios of future settlement growth in floodplains and evaluated changes in flood damage potentials and flood risk until the year 2030. Findings show that both climate change and settlement development significantly increase future levels of flood risk. However, the respective impacts vary strongly across the different cases. The analysis indicates that local conditions, such as the topography of the floodplain, the spatial allocation of vulnerable land uses or the type of land development (e.g. residential, commercial or industrial) in the floodplain are the key determinants of the respective effects of climate change and land development on future levels of flood risk. The case study analysis highlights the general need for a more comprehensive consideration of the local determinants of flood risk in order to increase the effectiveness of an adaptive management of flood risk dynamics.

River floods usually do not stop at administrative borders. The respective location of municipalities along a river creates different options and dependencies, commonly referred to as upstream–downstream relations. This regional dimension of flood risk calls for catchment‐based approaches in flood risk management as advocated by the EU Flood Directive. In this article, we present and assess the case of an intermunicipal cooperation in Austria which aims to alleviate flood risk and coordinate planning activities based on a catchment approach. The authors apply an established model of water governance to characterise the governance features and to assess the governance qualities and governance capacities of the intermunicipal cooperation. Findings show that the selected case qualifies as a suitable governance instrument to address the main policy objectives. Existing functional ties, shared (flooding) experiences, and mutual trust mark key success factors, indicating that proximity – in its many different forms – is crucial to overcome power asymmetries and spatial misfits in catchment‐based flood risk management. However, intermunicipal cooperation is weak when it comes to ensuring binding land use regulations, showing the need for a complementary use of governance arrangements and formal instruments of regional land use planning in flood risk management.

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