Documente Academic
Documente Profesional
Documente Cultură
Amani Abdo
Urban design & planning
Flood in Amman down town, march 2019
1. INTRODUCTION 3.3 roles of land use planning in flood management strategies
1.1Aims 2.6.1 Reducing Flooding
1.2 Target groups
1.3 Objectives 2.6.2 Reducing Susceptibility to Damage
2.6.3 Preserving the Natural Resources of Flood Plains
2.FLOOD RISK MITIGATION Land use implementation tools
1.4 urbanization Regulatory
1.5 Climate change impacts Financial
2.1 Flood hazard Economic
3.4 flood damage potential Behavioral
2.2 Flood risk assessment 3.4 tools and mechanisms for interaction
2.3 Flood risk management 3.4.1 Flood hazard maps
2.4 Strategic approach to urban flood management 3.4.2 Flood risk assessment of strategies and plans
2.5 Flood risk prevention 3.4.3 Flood risk assessment for particular planning applications
2.6 Flood risk mitigation 3.4.4 Environmental Assessment
Land use and infrastructure planning has traditionally addressed problems with policies
regulating the location and intensity of urban activities, often based on assumptions
about urban and environmental dynamics that are rarely revisited (Alberti, 1999;
Neuman, 2005). A key challenge of planning for urban sustainability is to understand the
dynamic multi-scale and multi-level relationships between different social, economic and
environmental systems in a local or regional context.
The link between the planning process and urban infrastructure is extremely important;
specifically the link between land use planning and sewage infrastructure. One measure
of this link could be the relationship between population distribution and drainage
infrastructure across a metropolitan area. Many cities of Jordan including amman have
suffered due to lack of effective planning practices. The land use patterns and population
distribution in the amman metropolitan area must be examined for its relationship with
the transport network which serves as the lifeline for any modern city.
Aims
This Tool aims to:
• Identify the processes and policy principles that necessitate a linkage of land use planning
in integrated flood management
• Provide an overview of land use planning instruments considered applicable in the flood
management context
• Identify the challenges and opportunities to a closer linkage between the various sectors
concerned
• Provide guidance as to how those sectors can work together
Target Group
The Tool is primarily written for flood managers at municipal and higher administrative levels to
facilitate the necessary dialogue with land use planners on local, regional and catchment levels,
urban and agricultural planners, transportation planners, developers of individual land parcels etc.
Objectives
Background aspects of city, like topography, hydrology, socio-economic status, weather pattern
,land use and infrastructure , with special reference to drainage
Root causes and immediate and long-term impacts of past flood incidences .
Master Plan provisions in relation to flood mitigation and management practice including
regulatory or voluntary efforts.
Summary
To reduce the underlying causes of flooding and ensure continuing development gains,
cities must prioritize risk-based land use planning. Globally, urban centers are at a high risk of
flooding, not only from more frequent and severe hydrometeorological events and sea-level rise,
but also from rapid, sprawling, and often unplanned urban development that is outpacing the
construction or improvement of drainage infrastructure. A risk-based approach to land use planning
is crucial to cities in both developed and developing countries.
Land use planning to manage flood risks must balance competing needs: it should seek to
maximize net benefits from waterfront economic and recreational activities and ecosystem services,
while ensuring minimum loss of life and property through safe location, safe construction, and safe
activities. By supporting the spatial integration of “gray” (conventional) hard-engineered
infrastructures with “green” infrastructure to manage water resources and protect against flooding,
land use planning can help to create a balanced urban water ecosystem.
Land use planning offers many opportunities to manage floods in all stages of the disaster
risk management cycle. Planning measures can minimize development in flood-prone zones;
reduce water runoff through development controls for flood risk mitigation; designate routes and
open spaces for better response and recovery efforts; mitigate damages from unavoidable floods;
and accommodate urban growth and expansion in flood-safe areas— including through
resettlement and reconstruction, when it is important to promote “build back better” practices within
a risk-based land use planning framework.
Cities have used several land use tools to manage floods with varying degrees of success. Spatial plans
provide the key reference to guide land use based on flood risk assessments and may be prepared at various
administrative levels, from national policies with general directives to municipal plans with comprehensive layouts.
Cities have traditionally sought to manage floods with regulatory instruments, such as zoning (to designate
floodplains or open spaces) and building codes (to ensure flood-resilient structures), but enforcing compliance
has been difficult. More recently, cities have experimented with economic instruments, such as land-based
financing and performance incentives. Influencing community behavior through risk communication and
participatory methods is vital for supporting flood risk reduction. To create realistic plans that are acceptable to the
community, the planning process must be supported with a participatory framework for risk diagnostics and
communication, along with plan preparation, implementation, and monitoring. Ultimately, different land use tools
must be used in combination for effective implementation.
Integrating flood risk in the land use planning process can be challenging, requiring coordination among
multiple stakeholders and institutions, both formal and informal, as well responsible decision making.
Decision makers may be motivated to push for highly visible structural measures, which can show constituents
that flood risk is being addressed. At the same time, resettlement is unpopular in both developed and developing
countries. In developing countries, implementing land use plans is further confounded by the complexities
surrounding informal settlement and unclear tenure, as well as by lack of capacity and resources. Ultimately,
successful land use planning for flood risk management requires investment in two areas: (i) educating decision
makers and communities about the flood risk and role of land use planning in managing it; and (ii) building
sufficient technical and governance capacity to formulate, implement, and manage a flood risk–based land use
planning process. This paper offers policy makers and practitioners an overview of the key aspects of land
use planning used to manage flood risks in cities across the world. It includes examples from developed and
developing countries to provide insight into what has worked in different contexts. It does not provide prescriptive
solutions or step-by-step methodologies, since approaches will vary by context. Solutions and methodologies will
depend on local land use challenges and institutional capacities, on the scale at which land use planning is
undertaken, and finally on the local land use planning culture and land tenure regime, apart from technical and
financial capacities.
1. Introduction
The way land resources are utilized has a decisive influence on development prospects of
societies. In many places the most valuable land resources in terms of soil fertility, urban
development space, infrastructure location (e.g. transport links) etc. are liable to flooding. Taking
a closer look at the issue of flooding, there are two major aspects that connect land use and
flooding:
• The location of values and key components of the economy on flood plains provides economic
benefits (i.e. the primary reason for developments being placed there) and at the same time
creates risks for the society in terms of flood loss potential.
• The development of land has consequences on the flow of water on the one hand, either by
accelerating runoff through reducing the infiltration capacity of soils or obstructing the natural
drainage system, as well as sediment and pollutants on the other hand.
Naturally, since these processes are better understood for a couple of decades, calls have been
that planning practices in the different sectors and groups dealing with land use planning on the
one hand and flood protection or flood risk management on the other, should be interlinked or
harmonized.
In its worst form a traditional and reactive approach would be to develop flood prone land
without knowledge of the prevailing flood hazards, and to provide local flood defences for the
area in an ad-hoc manner once flooding has occurred.
Contrary, the approach promoted in this tool and largely recognized as the way forward is to take
development decisions based on the knowledge of the prevailing and expected future risks and to
adapt development planning according to the degree of risk faced and the risk a particular society
is willing and able to accept.
1.1 Urbanization
Urbanization disrupts natural
drainage patterns; natural
watercourses are destroyed and the
natural retention of runoff by
plants and soil is removed. By
changing pervious natural surfaces
to less- or non-pervious artificial
surfaces, the storm water runoff
rates and the total runoff volumes
will increase as a result of a
declining natural water storage
capacity of the soil. All these
factors are leading to an increased
risk of urban flooding. Change of
natural water storage as a
consequence of urbanization also
causes significant changes to the
temporal characteristics of runoff
from an urbanized area, such as
shortening the runoff travel time
and giving to the event a flashing
appearance.
1.2 Climate change impacts
Climate change is one of the greatest environmental, social and economic threats faced by
the planet. Climate change scenarios generally imply an increase in rainfall variability and,
on global average, an increase in total precipitation, which could lead to even more
frequent and severe natural disaster and floods.
Human induced climate change is expected to continue in the coming decades (IPCC,
2001a) with considerable effects on human society and the environment. The magnitude of
the impacts strongly depends on the nature and rate of future temperature increase.
Consequences of climate change include an increased risk of floods and droughts, losses of
biodiversity, threats to human health, and damage to economic sectors such as forestry,
agriculture, tourism and the insurance industry (IPCC, 2001b).
In Europe losses have increased substantially over the past 20 years to an average of EUR
10 billion in the 1990s. Four of the five years with the largest economic losses have
occurred since 1997 (EEA, 2004).
A recent study by the European Environmental Agency (EEA, 2004) summarises the
current consensus within the European research community. It states that there is growing
evidence that changes in frequency and extent of climate extremes are likely to be caused
by a shift of the mean climate to more extreme conditions, and more and stronger
deviations from this mean.
Fighting climate change is a key environmental priority for the European Union.
Substantial reductions in emissions of greenhouse gases will be required to ensure that
Europe meets its short-term emission targets. Adaptation measures to manage the negative
impacts of climate change also need to be put into place.
1.3 Flood hazards
Natural hazards and disasters are the products of an interaction between numerous aspects,
such as climatic, social, economic, institutional and technical, that are differently addressed
for rural and urban conditions (Andjelkovic, UNESCO, 2001).
An “environmental approach” to flood hazards is based on the view that both social and
physical environments influence the creation of flood hazards and disasters. The
environmental approach, proposed from Parker in his book “Floods” (2000), is focusing
primarily upon the social explanation of flood hazards and disasters without denying
contributory physical causes.
Flood hazards and then risk should be viewed as endemic product of a natural, physical
and biological environment usually heavily modified by the social, economic and political
environment.
The term risk has been defined in several ways in the natural hazard literature. According
to the definitions proposed by Kron (2002), three variables determine the “risk”: hazard,
vulnerability and exposure.
• – Hazard: the threatening natural event including its probability/magnitude of
• occurrence;
• – Exposure: the values/humans that are present at the location involved;
• – Vulnerability: the lack (or loose) of resistance to damaging/destructive forces.
Most important is the distinction that is drawn between the words hazard and risk
(Gouldby and Samuels, 2005). A hazard does not automatically lead to a harmful outcome,
but identification of a hazard does mean that there is a possibility of harm occurring, with
the actual harm depending upon the exposure to the hazard and the characteristics of the
receptor.
Vulnerability to flood disasters comes through various forms: exposure to floods as a result
of locating in flood-prone areas, occupying a dwelling which has little resistance to floods,
the quality of buildings, lack of protections from floods, weaknesses of the population
related to age, gender, health status, infirmity. Inability to avoid or recover from a flood
disaster and low levels of protection or assistance are also contributory social factors.
Both vulnerability and exposure to floods are viewed as key causal factors of risk: the
approach involves evaluating the full range of traditional approaches to flood hazard and
disasters as well as modern technological ones.
This kind of approach involves viewing the problems of flood hazards and disasters and
long-term safety survivability within the context of sustainable development. Sustainable
communities are those that are able to weigh up these risks and seek to reduce the
vulnerability of their people to natural hazards, so they seek to build social and economical
resilience to disaster (Parker, 2000).
Moreover, central to the concept of hazard is the notion that humans interface with floods:
a flood is not hazardous unless humans are somehow affected. Hewitt (1983) takes this
further by stating that a hazard refers to the potential for damage that exists only in the
presence of a vulnerable human community.
Flood exposure is a measure of the human population, land uses and investment located in
flood zones and at risk of flooding, and increasing exposure is a prime, contributory cause
of flood hazards and disasters.
A common method of measuring flood exposure is to count the number of properties of
different types that occupy a floodplain or other flood risk area such as coastal flood zone.
There is a substantial evidence from different parts of the world that exposure to floods is
growing rapidly as human occupation of floodplains and flood-prone coastal zones
intensifies.
1.4 Flood damage potential
The location of economic values on floodplains or the investment into floodplain areas has
played a major role in the development history of most countries.
The benefits derived from the floodplains are provided at a risk.This flood damage can come in
various forms to buildings, goods, crops, infrastructure, or the environment. 4
By taking decisions on land-use and on placing such values on land liable to flooding humans
have an influence on the flood damage potential. Therefore, in modern flood management
approaches land-use planning and regulation plays a vital role in controlling the flood damage
potential to acceptable levels.
In this context it seems important to consider that society through political processes and
individual choice has to take decisions on the level of flood risk it is willing to accept. Those
choices are sometimes explicitly formulated in form of policy documents, laws or similar
instruments.
While employing such statistics to raise the level of flood risk awareness and to point at
unreasonable increases in flood risk can be beneficial, they tend to oversimplify the issue if
employed as “stand-alone” argument. When using such figures several aspects which are
normally not taken into include
• the benefits that the use of floodplain areas provides to society
• the possible lack of less risk-prone alternatives
• the level of protection that existing flood defences and flood-proofing measures .
It is therefore essential to take a broader view of risk-benefit relationships in devising flood
management policy. The prime economic indicator for success of flood management policies
should be the net-benefits that are derived from the floodplains, based on an environmentally
sound and sustainable approach.
1.5 Flood risk assessment
The urban sprawl in metropolitan areas along large rivers causes an increasing claim on
space that is merely used as floodplain and consequently spread of building activities in
places not suitable for building. At the same time potential climate changes are likely to
cause an increase in number and intensity of flood events. This mutual expansion increases
the vulnerability of urban areas to flooding and therefore the social and economic damage
in case of a disastrous flood event. Consequently, the responsible authorities are required
to adapt their policies in order to combine flood management measures, spatial
development and new strategies on protection standards. In order to evaluate the changes
of risk, it is necessary to examine the increasing exposure to floods and the damage
potential losses resulting from these floods (AquaDeltaForum, 2004).
In most cases the conventional flood management measures do not hold this integral
approach. Consequently a future challenge in urban flood management lies in the
development of innovative protection measure, in which the growing demands for space,
the consequences of potential climate changes and advanced safety standards are entirely
integrated (AquaDeltaForum, 2004).
Besides structural measures aiming at a reduction of the probability of flooding, new
approaches need to be developed to mitigate flood impacts. Legislation, land use planning
and management, zoning, urban drainage, flood insurance are some examples to modify
the vulnerability of the urban environment to flood damage.
The adoption of non-structural approaches for urban flood mitigation as structural
solutions has proved at best partial solutions. Urban planning guidelines and flood
management strategies should, therefore, be part of an integral approach to the problem
(AquaDeltaForum, 2004).
1.6 Flood risk management
Risk management is the systematic approach to minimize disaster impact at all levels and
locations in a given society. It is normally based on a comprehensive strategy for increased
awareness, assessment, analysis/evaluation, reduction measures (Brezger,2004).
In addition, the framework needs to include legal provisions defining the
responsibilities for disaster damage and longer-term social impacts including spatial
planning actions.
Integrated risk management stresses the equal implementation of all possible measures and
includes risk communication and dialogue as relevant elements of risk management (ARE,
2003).
The UNESCO provides a comprehensive set of best practice for non-structural measures in
urban flood management (Andjelkovic, 2001), proposing a management planning defining
the identification of problems, opportunities and constraints, the setting of goals and
objectives (like reducing exposure of people and property to flood hazards, reducing
existing level of flood damages, minimizing soil erosion and sedimentation problems,
protecting environmental quality), the establishment of policies and priorities that govern
overall effort, and, finally, the development of criteria and standards for evaluating
systems’ performance under future development scenarios.
1.7 Strategic approach to urban flood management
A combination of structural & non-structural urban flood management strategies are considered to be
complementary aspects of a comprehensive & integrated urban flood management strategy.
Non-structural urban flood management strategies
Main focus on physical interventions & investments in engineered infrastructure.
Over the centuries a variety of structures have been evolved to mitigate the flood hazard. The main
thrust of flood protection program in Jordan so far has been in the nature of structural measures.
Structural urban flood management strategies
Strategies impacts focus upon preventative action & rely predominantly on behavioral changes in order
to be effective.Particularly relevant in low income communities in tropical climates, where flooding is
inevitable and resources for infrastructure are scarce.
1.8 Flood risk Prevention
Important flood risk prevention strategies to manage with floods are mitigation, adaptation
and preparedness. Mitigation, adaptation and preparedness can be summarised under the
term prevention (Plate, 2001). This section introduce this basic concepts used in flood
planning and managing.
Mitigation aims at reducing the flood event itself, through robust and sustainable local
solutions and structural measures like reservoirs or dykes, that can cope with the everincreasing
urban pressure on flood prone areas and the uncertainties created by climate
change. Keeping water out of urban areas in many instances is not the perfect solution;
accepting and preparing for some degree on flooding will in many cases be a more sensible
solution (AquaDeltaForum, 2004).
Adaptation basically means reducing vulnerability through non-structural planning
measures like restrictive zoning. At local/urban level adaptation to floods can be addressed
by strict measures such as prohibit new development in the floodplain and to proof existing
structures, or even to replace the existing development by alternative use of land towards a
reduction on floods damage.
Preparedness is the preparation of a rapid and adequate response at all times and especially
in the run-up to a flood event. It is relevant to prevent these floods, but of course this is not
always possible. Whatever is done to prevent floods from happening, and the risks of
flooding, there will always be some residual risk. In those cases the level of preparedness
can be of key importance. Reducing the adverse effects of a flood can diminish the number
of casualties and of course the amounts of losses.
1.9 Flood risk mitigation
Flood forecasting: with reliable advance information/warning about impending floods loss can be
reduced to a considerable extent
Flood inundation mapping & land use planning: Satellite R. S. is extremely useful in monitoring the
dynamics of water spread
Flood plain zoning: means categorization based on admin. Legislations for planning & dev. of flood
plains for various purposes.
Flood insurance: Scheme of charging insurance premiums based on nature & location of
establishment in flood plains
Decision support system for real time flood warning & management: based on database linked to
math. Models based on hydrometereological information.
land use-based hazard
management
2.1 GIS land use-based assessment in hazard
management
Environmental risk management needs a multi-disciplinary approach, with input and
expertise required from many fields. A wide range of simple to complex, spatial and non spatial,
quantitative and qualitative input data sets is used in environmental risk assessment
and analysis process. Due the need for using and analyzing a huge volume of the spatial as well
as non-spatial environmental hazards and exposure data in a fast and reasonably accurate way,
Geographical Information Systems (GIS) based software applications using a variety of
modeling techniques serve as powerful tools for effective environmental risk assessment
and management (Raheja, 2003).
Such applications can be used for a range of environmental risk assessment and analysis
purposes. These applications can vary from development of databases systems for simple
to complex GIS layers overlays, to complex territorial decision-making systems for study
the impact of natural disasters on the natural and artificial environment, including human
beings, properties, infrastructure, vegetation and ecology.
2.2 IFM & land use
Land in many parts of the world is a scarce but crucial natural resource. Ongoing developments
such as population growth and connected issues of food security and urbanization put land and
water resources under considerable pressure. Looking at the development history of societies it
becomes evident that floodplain areas have been preferred for human settlement.
While the contribution of those flood-liable lands and the flood protection infrastructure to socio-
economic development need to be recognized, the growing risks to the development process have
become evident over the past decades in numerous examples of large scale flooding with serious
economic consequences. Flood risk in its most essential form is the product of probability of a
particular flood event times the consequence that event would have.
In another form flood risk is described as a function of the flood hazard (probability of
occurrence of a particular flood event), the exposure of human activity to the flood (flood
damage potential) and the specific vulnerability of the community affected by the flood.
The level and trends in accumulating economic values on floodplains, in particular in form of
“urban uses” encroaching on the flood plain, has in parts of the world led to discussion on
acceptable levels of flood risk and in case led to considerable changes in national flood
management policies towards limiting the flood damage potential by anti-encroachment policies.
Integrated Flood Management (IFM) as a development policy concept calls for a balance
between the development needs of society and the flood risks oriented towards the maximization
of net-benefits derived from the flood plains to ensure sustainable development (APFM, 2004).
2.3 Impacts of land use on flood hazards
Hydrologic effects of urban development
Floods occur when large volumes of runoff flow quickly into streams and rivers. The peak
discharge of a flood is influenced by many factors, including the intensity and duration of storms
and snowmelt, the topography and geology of stream basins, vegetation, and the hydrologic
conditions preceding storm and snowmelt events.
Land use and other human activities also influence the peak discharge of floods by modifying
how rainfall and snowmelt are stored on and run off the land surface into streams.
In undeveloped areas such as forests and grasslands, rainfall and snowmelt collect and are stored
on vegetation, in the soil column, or in surface depressions. When this storage capacity is filled,
runoff flows slowly through soil as subsurface flow.
In contrast, urban areas, where much of the land surface is covered by roads and buildings, have
less capacity to store rainfall and snowmelt. Construction of roads and buildings often involves
removing vegetation, soil, and depressions from the land surface. The permeable soil is replaced
by impermeable surfaces such as roads, roofs, parking lots, and sidewalks that store little water,
reduce infiltration of water into the ground, and accelerate runoff to ditches and streams. Dense
networks of ditches and culverts in cities reduce the distance that runoff must travel overland or
through subsurface flow paths to reach streams and rivers. Once water enters a drainage network,
it flows faster than either overland or subsurface flow.
With less storage capacity for water in urban basins and more rapid runoff, urban streams rise
more quickly during storms and have higher peak discharge rates than do rural streams. In
addition, the total volume of water discharged during a flood tends to be larger for urban streams
than for rural streams.
2.4 Land use planning and flood management
The need for a closer integration or coordination between flood management plans and land use
plans has been recognized since long. However, many countries are struggling to devise
appropriate policies and administrative mechanisms that would facilitate such integration.
Fundamental characteristics and the aims of those planning processes and policies have been
driven and implemented by different stakeholders and decision-makers. Therefore it is required to
seek a mutual understanding of those two processes.
• Regional planning,
• Town and country planning,
• Urban planning, or
• Spatial planning.
Depending on the country and the context where the term is used the meaning of the term varies.
The overarching theme in all those terms, however, refers to ensuring that land is used in the
most efficient way to serve society in achieving its economic, social and environmental goals.
Usually this is undertaken in an environment of competing uses. As such land use planning is a
balancing act. With a reference to flood management that balancing act can be centrally
illustrated in the ongoing debate characterized by the two paradigms “space for development”
and “space for water/rivers”. The operational instrument to guide this process are land use plans.
2.4.2 Flood Management
Similarly, various terms are used with reference to “flood management”. They differ in concept
depending on the country where they are used and the overall aim that is given to flood
management policy. For example, in some countries the term “flood management” is
synonymously used with “flood control”, emphasizing the control approach with connected focus
on river engineering and structural flood management measures. While those structural measures
also form part of flood management, the control approach is slowly loosing the central stage as
policy paradigm. Societies increasingly recognize that floods can only be controlled to a limited
extent and that absolute safety from flooding is a myth.
A sustainable development perspective has been brought into the flood management domain in
recent years leading to terms such as:
• Integrated Flood Management
• Sustainable or Holistic Flood Management
• Flood Risk Management
These approaches differ in subtle emphasis that is placed on the aims and objectives of flood
management, depending on the on the social and economic background of the area. For example,
Integrated Flood Management explicitly aims at maximizing the efficient use of floodplains
while minimizing losses of life from flooding (APFM, 2004). Flood risk management, while not
having a uniform definition in literature, lays emphasis on reducing the overall flood risk. In all
these environment.
Taking wider view on the interactions between the land and water environment within a river
basin, and on the wider socio-economic and environmental implications of floods, Integrated
Flood Management approaches form a good conceptual basis to bring about a convergence
between the land use planning process and the flood management process.
2.5 Planning processes
2.5.1 Land use planning processes
Land use planning processes take place on various levels of Government, usually with increasing
levels of detail with decreasing administrative scale:
At the highest administrative levels such as federal or national level in form of land use policy or
(strategic) plans that specify general aims, objectives and measures for future land use that are
binding for all development authorities concerned.
At the state, district or similar level in form of plans specifying development ambitions and
required land uses under its jurisdiction.
At the local or municipal level in form of local land use plans with detailed allocations of
particular land parcels to specific uses or specific planning application procedures to be followed
for different zones.
On the local level those may be prepared as “comprehensive plans”7 to layout strategies to
manage land development in a community. Those plans are usually binding for the land owners
or developers concerned. Such comprehensive local development plans are for instance used in
various parts of the United States. Even though varying in emphasis in different locations such
plans would usually contain elements on community infrastructure (schools, hospitals, civil
defence, etc.) and transportation, housing and neighbourhood development, cultural heritage,
environmental assets and conservation sites, and economic development. They do have
sometimes a specific component on flood hazards and risks. An example of a land-use planning
map illustrating the distinctions of various land uses made is provided in the Annex.
2.5.2 Flood management planning processes
Similarly flood management plans are developed at different levels as part of sectoral planning.
These include:
• Basin or Catchment Flood Management Strategy
• Basin or Catchment Flood Management Plan8
• Local Floodplain Management Plan
• Project Plan
The different plans largely vary on spatial and temporal scales. The first two are prepared for
comparably large areas and partly with substantial time horizons (reaching up to several
decades). The latter two types of flood management plans are prepared on rather small spatial
scales and time scales of months or a few years. Stand-alone local floodplain management plans
for a particular (relatively small scale) stretch along the river or all the floodplains under the local
government’s jurisdiction, are prepared, particularly in communities regularly affected by
flooding. In those plans a variety of specific issues can be addressed such as flood hazard
mapping needs, regulatory standards and procedures, areas where repeated flood losses have
occurred, areas which should be acquired by the public and cleared, local flood defence
requirements, river bed corrections and adjustments, etc.
2.5.3 Other related planning processes
Depending on the stage of development in a society and its political priorities, various other
sectoral development plans may be of interest in flood management due to their relation to flood
risks:
Industrial Development: Flood risk consideration in planning industrial developments is essential
to provide sustainability to business operation and to control flood damages potential. These also
address control of pollution and spread of hazardous substances due to flooding of industrial
premises.
Agriculture Development/ Poverty Reduction: heavily relies on floodplain areas du to the readily
available fertile soil and water resources. At the same time agricultural practices can influence
runoff generation, infiltration processes and sediment yield.
Water Resources Management: flood risks form a central component of water resources
management plans to ensure the effective use of flood waters and safeguard the functioning of the
water system during floods.
Transport and Communication Development: location and structural design of those
infrastructure elements need to be planned in full awareness of flood hazard areas and the
possibility of hampering infrastructure impacting on the hydrological processes and flood
magnitudes.
Disaster Management: is undertaken with a view to all hazards affecting communities, including
flooding.
The complex inter-relation between various development processes to land-use planning and
flood management is illustrated by an example from England in Figure 3. A feature apparent from
this example is the obvious disparity between plans prepared for certain jurisdictions such as the
municipal or national level and those developed for catchments and river basins
2.6 Roles of land use planning in flood management
strategies
47 It needs to be stressed that only a best mix of the strategies presented in Table 2 adjusted to the
particular circumstances of each river basin can serve the aims of Integrated Flood Management.
This becomes apparent when thinking of a flood management strategy that would only focus on
reducing the susceptibility to damage as this would lead in its most consequent form to largely
ignoring the development potential of the floodplains.