No full-text available
To read the full-text of this research,
you can request a copy directly from the authors.
Planning to Build Resilient Infrastructure: A case study of sea level rise adaptation planning in the City of Vancouver
Abstract
Rising sea levels create increasing flood risks for coastal communities, including the City of Vancouver. With a projected sea level rise of 1m by 2100, British Columbia communities face the challenging task of understanding hazards, vulnerabilities, and consequences from flood events, and identifying suitable measures, including infrastructure and planning options, to protect multiple interests over large areas. This paper highlights the application of a Structured Decision Making approach to evaluate mitigation options to reduce flood risks for Vancouver, British Columbia. The process involved a series of stakeholder workshops to identify interests that may be impacted, develop suitable mitigation alternatives, review performance of each alternative and consider trade-offs, and finally to develop recommendations for a suite of mitigation alternatives to protect vulnerable neighbourhoods across the city.
ResearchGate has not been able to resolve any citations for this publication.
Flood exposure is increasing in coastal cities owing to growing
populations and assets, the changing climate, and subsidence. Here we
provide a quantification of present and future flood losses in the 136
largest coastal cities. Using a new database of urban protection and
different assumptions on adaptation, we account for existing and future
flood defences. Average global flood losses in 2005 are estimated to be
approximately US52billion by 2050
with projected socio-economic change alone. With climate change and
subsidence, present protection will need to be upgraded to avoid
unacceptable losses of US60-63billion per
year in 2050. To maintain present flood risk, adaptation will need to
reduce flood probabilities below present values. In this case, the
magnitude of losses when floods do occur would increase, often by more
than 50%, making it critical to also prepare for larger disasters than
we experience today. The analysis identifies the cities that seem most
vulnerable to these trends, that is, where the largest increase in
losses can be expected.
What influences residents’ vulnerability to flood hazards in a Canadian coastal city? This study addresses the question by identifying and testing hypothetical determinants of residential vulnerability to flood hazards in Metro Vancouver. A household survey is conducted in four neighbourhoods in Vancouver and Surrey to test seven determinants: (1) social vulnerability, (2) hazard perception, (3) institutional arrangements, (4) amenity value conflicts, (5) self-protection, (6) attribution of responsibility, and (7) attenuation of risk due to another dominating concern. Survey findings offer insights into how these determinants interact to produce unequal vulnerability to flood hazards among residents in a Canadian city. The study finds that social vulnerability is an important factor in determining overall vulnerability to flood hazards. Household income, as a key contributor to social vulnerability, is found to have significant correlations with variables that define the other determinants. Institutional arrangements, including property insurance and development regulations, appear to interact with social vulnerability and the other determinants to allow powerful groups of people to live in hazardous places without taking on the full associated risk. The findings of the study have implications for our understanding of how vulnerability is produced and how, or whether, local policy can address these factors to equitably reduce risk.
Climate Change Adaptation Strategy
- City
- Vancouver
City of Vancouver, "Climate Change
Adaptation Strategy," Vancouver, 2012.
IPCC Fifth Assessment Report (AR5) -The physical science basis
IPCC Working Group 1, "IPCC Fifth
Assessment Report (AR5) -The physical
science basis," IPCC, 2014.
Projected Sea Level Changes for British Columbia in the 21st Century in Publication, no. December. Government of Biritish Columbia
- B Bornhold
B. Bornhold, Projected Sea Level Changes
for British Columbia in the 21st Century in
Publication, no. December. Government of
Biritish Columbia, 2008.
BC Ministry of Environment Climate Change Adaption Guidelines for Sea Dikes and Coastal Flood Hazard Land Use, no. 143111. BC Ministryof the Environment
- Ausenco Sandwell
Ausenco Sandwell, BC Ministry of
Environment Climate Change Adaption
Guidelines for Sea Dikes and Coastal Flood
Hazard Land Use, no. 143111. BC Ministryof
the Environment, 2011.
City of Vancouver Coastal Flood Risk Assessment Phase II: Final Report
- T S Lyle
- G Long
- C Beaudrie
T. S. Lyle, G. Long, and C. Beaudrie, "City of
Vancouver Coastal Flood Risk Assessment
Phase II: Final Report," 2015.