FloodsExperts tackle U.K. flood risk
The U.K. Blue-Green Cities Research Project combines the expertise of academics from nine U.K. universities plus partners in the United States and China specializing in flood inundation modelling, computation fluid dynamics, sediment debris processes, river restoration and habitats, urban drainage infrastructure, environmental economics, uncertainty, flood risk management, and stakeholder engagement. The project’s goal is to make U.K. cities more resilient to flooding.
Leading experts in flood management from the University of Nottingham are playing a major role in how research can be used to make U.K. cities more resilient to flooding.
Last month, scientists from the university presented their research findings at a series of events looking at how cities across the United Kingdom can be better prepared for flooding by implementing the recommendations of the Blue-Green Cities Research Project.
Blue-Green Cities
The Blue-Green Cities Research Project was set up in February 2013 and is funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).
The interdisciplinary project is led by Professor Colin Thorne from the U Nottingham’s School of Geography. It combines the expertise of academics from nine U.K. universities plus partners in the United States and China specializing in flood inundation modelling, computation fluid dynamics, sediment debris processes, river restoration and habitats, urban drainage infrastructure, environmental economics, uncertainty, flood risk management, and stakeholder engagement.
Blue-Green Cities is one of the three research consortia funded at the April 2012 EPSRC “Sand Pit” and forms part of the EPSRC Flood Risk Management (FRM) Network.
What is a Blue-Green City?
A Blue-Green City aims to recreate a naturally oriented water cycle while contributing to the amenity of the city by bringing water management and green infrastructure together.
This is achieved by combining and protecting the hydrological and ecological values of the urban landscape while providing resilient and adaptive measures to deal with flood events.
How are we helping?
U Nottingham reports that on 7 January, the Newcastle Learning and Action Alliance (which was set up by Blue-Green Cities and includes members from Newcastle City Council, Northumbrian Water, the Environment Agency, major landowners and local interest groups), met to continue planning the first steps necessary to making Newcastle more resilient to flooding, based on the research outcomes of the Blue-Green Cities research consortium.
Professor Thorne said: “This is a ‘science into policy into action’. Newcastle is a role model for other U.K. cities in terms of its vision and the speed with which it is acting in response to the ‘Toon Monsoon’ of 2012 and the general increase in urban flood risk.”
Dr. Emily O’Donnell, lead researcher with Blue-Green Cities, coordinates the Learning and Action Alliance and explained: “These alliances provide a platform to facilitate open knowledge-sharing and discussions and have encouraged the development of a Blue-Green vision for Newcastle, which has been support by research conducted by the project team. The next steps are to identify opportunities to implement the vision.”
On 11 January the Nottingham team met with representatives of Newcastle Council and Northumbrian Water PLC (plus researchers from Newcastle University and other local interest groups), to finalize arrangements for the main Blue-Green Cities research dissemination event, which was held in Newcastle on 18 February.
Professor Thorne says: “These events don’t just center on flood research, but also the need to link U.K. Research Council funded research to flood risk management practice in real time.”
On 13 January, U Nottingham also hosted the final meeting of the Strategic Advisory Board (SAB) of the Blue-Green Cities research project. The SAB includes reps from the Environment Agency, local government, and professional consultants, all of whom well placed to appraise flood risk management problems and the utility and applicability of current academic research to helping solve them.
At this meeting, the entire research consortium team assembled to make presentations summarizing the new research and how it can be used to make U.K. cities more resilient to flooding while at the same time generating a range of wider benefits to society and the environment .
Reducing the threat
Professor Thorne adds: “In a civilized society and in an advanced nation like Britain, flood misery on the current scale shouldn’t be happening and our research will go some way to prevent flooding like that we have seen in the last couple of years.”
