Assessing quick wins to protect critical urban infrastructure from floods: a case study in Bangkok, Thailand

Abstract

This paper focuses on the vulnerability and protection of critical urban infrastructure from flooding. It presents a pragmatic and rapid screening procedure, referred to as a 'Quick Scan methodology' . The purpose of the Quick Scan is to provide guidance for network operators and decision makers on identifying and rating those critical infrastructure networks and hot spot buildings that may be at risk from flooding, and assessing where intervention will be most feasible and cost beneficial -the so-called quick wins. This approach will support the development of effective interventions to alleviate direct and indirect flood impacts. Workshops and interviews with stakeholders and experts have been organised in pilot cities -Bangkok, Paris and Dordrecht -to test and further develop the Quick Scan and to obtain feedback and lessons learned for the protection of critical urban infrastructure. This paper presents the findings of the stakeholder workshops carried out in the city of Bangkok.

Contributing to urban resilience to floods with neighbourhood design: the case of Am Sandtorkai/Dalmannkai in Hamburg

“…As this research is also based on the urban system operation, but at the neighbourhood level, it appeared apparent that the DS3 model could be adapted and used as an analysis tool in this study. Even though there are other models or approaches (Barroca and Serre, ; Zevenbergen et al ., ) aimed at the analysis or assessment of urban resilience, the Serre et al .’s () approach is closest to the approach used here. Moreover, the three capacities considered to be essential to studying resilience in the DS3 model are consistent with the definition of neighbourhood resilience developed in this research.…”

“…Otherwise, from a scientific point of view, almost no reference, except maybe (Colten et al ., ; Van Herk et al ., ; Ashley et al ., ) can be found concerning studies focused on the neighbourhood scale but more on social and organisational perspectives: the resilience of communities. Other resilience assessment models exist (Barroca and Serre, ; Serre et al ., ; Zevenbergen et al ., ), but not specifically developed for urban planners to supply them resilient options at the scale of their professional concerns, neighbourhoods.…”

Resilience of Critical Infrastructures: Review and Analysis of Current Approaches

“…The literature shows that resilience must consider several fields (Bach, Bouchon, Fekete, Birkmann, & Serre, ; Provitolo, ; Zevenbergen et al., ). In line with Bruneau et al.…”

Methods of assessing flood resilience of critical buildings

“…Within an urban environment the number and type of flood vulnerable infrastructure elements is likely to be large and very varied. To facilitate action prioritisation, the quick scan method was developed (Zevenbergen et al (2014) describe the application of the method to neighbourhoods in Bangkok, Thailand). The quick scan method is a rapid assessment and ranking procedure which identifies assets that are at most risk from flooding so that effectivebut at the same time easily achievable and most cost-effectiveinterventions are put in place to alleviate the damage to these assets (these are termed 'low-hanging fruit' as they offer the 'easiest picking').…”