Graduation Plan ( P 2 ) : Track : Architecture Personal information

Facing rising sea levels, increasing peak discharges of the rivers and intensification of rainstorms due to climate change; the subsidence of land; development of urbanization; and the growth of population, flood risks continue to be the prime issue to the Netherlands. As the frequency and severity of floods increase, the reconsideration of current flood defense strategies is imperative. This paper reviews a new approach – “flood resilience” strategy (Bruijn K. d., 2004) – that was introduced to better deal with increasing flood risks. Different from the traditional “flood resistance” strategy (Bruijn K. d., 2004) which focus on building flood defense constructions such as dikes to prevent the land from being flooded, “flood resilience” strategy aims at reducing the damage and increasing the capacity of recovering from the flood. The Dutch “Room for the River” project which is based upon the idea of resilience would be studied to explain the necessity to develop “flood resilience” strategies. Among the series of projects to manage increasing water level by increasing river conveyance by opening up more room for the water to flow through in the national “Room for the River” project, the particular project in Nijmegen is used to demonstrate the effective outcome of increasing water safety whilst contributing to spatial quality in such projects. Finally, the paper concludes that the “Room for the River” project and relative resilience strategies indicate a transition in in the traditional strategy of strengthening dikes. Although the choice between different strategies or a combination of both varies according to particular situations, “flood resilience” strategies would continue to be researched and used more often while the traditional strategies would still be used and reinforced but may be reformed to cope with “flood resilience” strategies.