University of Twente Student Theses
Design of a participatory approach that improves community flood resilience : the case of cultural heritage in Dordrecht
Vries, M.C.J. de (2022) Design of a participatory approach that improves community flood resilience : the case of cultural heritage in Dordrecht.
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| Abstract: | Background information For many years, the world is experiencing the consequences of climate change. Increased storm intensity, extreme rainfall, high river discharges, and sea level rise influence our way of living. It is expected that these events will increase, influencing the way we live even more. This is especially relevant for urban areas that are vulnerable to floods. To cope with climate change, these areas need to be flood resilient. In the Netherlands, vulnerable areas are situated near the coast and the main rivers. One of these urban areas is the city of Dordrecht. Due to its location, the city flourished in Dutch history. This, together with the preservation of the city centre in the last centuries, resulted in the presence of cultural heritage buildings in the city. To protect this, Dordrecht participates in SHELTER, a project funded by the European Union that aims to increase resilience of climate change impacted cultural heritage. Through this project, the Municipality of Dordrecht aims at increasing the flood resilience of citizens and the buildings they are living in, in a participatory way. Research objective and methodology The main objective of this research is to “Design a participatory approach that improves community flood resilience of citizens and the cultural heritage they are living in”. To achieve this goal, a design science methodology is adopted to structure the research. This methodology focuses on designing a general solution to a certain problem, and consists of three phases: 1) the problem investigation, 2) the design phase and 3) the validation phase. The problem investigation aims at investigating the current state of flood resilience and public participation in Dordrecht, to tailor the participatory approach. This is done by conducting a literature review, organising a focus group and conducting semi-structured interviews with the Municipality of Dordrecht, and organising focus groups and conducting structured interviews with citizens of Dordrecht. The data collected in the problem investigation form the basis for the design phase, whereafter the design was validated with the Municipality of Dordrecht. Problem investigation The literature research identified that the importance of public participation in resilience assessments is only implicitly emphasised, where no guidance was given on using participatory methods in resilience assessments. By synthesising literature on both concepts the importance public participation has in resilience assessments is made more explicit. It, among others, contributes to an improved understanding of the local context of citizens, and public participation creates a platform for sharing experiences of citizens in resilience assessments. Additionally, participatory methods were linked to the three phases of resilience assessments, i.e. understand, measure, and improve. In each phase of a resilience assessment methods are emphasised that can contribute to that particular phase. This research therefore not only emphasises the importance public participation has in resilience assessments, but it also gives guidance on the use of participatory methods when conducting a resilience assessment. The second and third part of the problem investigation investigates the perspective of the Municipality of Dordrecht and its citizens regarding flood resilience and public participation. The main outcome is that the perspective of the Municipality of Dordrecht regarding flood resilience does not differ significantly from the perspective of the citizens. Both the perspectives of the embanked area and the unembanked area were researched, since flood risks differ per area. In the embanked area most citizens are unaware of their flood risks, while in the unembanked area citizens are aware of their flood risks. When citizens are informed by the municipality about their flood risks, or when they have experienced floods, they are more aware of their flood risks and know better which flood measures they can take to protect themselves and the cultural heritage buildings they are living in. Additionally, what citizens have to do in crisis situations, i.e. when an extreme flood occurs, is not known. Regarding participation, it can be concluded that it is not well embedded within the municipality, where project managers mainly rely on their own experience when applying participation. Besides that, citizens perceive limited participation at the moment. The findings of the problem investigation were synthesised in a design brief. In this design brief the goal, the user (Municipality of Dordrecht), and design requirements are listed. These requirements should link to literature, contribute to more awareness of crisis situations, be understandable, reach a majority of the citizens, and the approach should be resource-dependent. The latter refers to resources the municipality has at its disposal, e.g. time, money and staff. The design requirements were validated and were found to be complete. Design and validation To contribute to flood resilience, a participatory approach is designed. The design brief of the problem investigation, together with an in-depth review of a methodological framework for designing a participatory approach, form the basis for the design. Based on the design requirements, two scenarios are developed. One with low resources, resulting in information provision from the municipality to the citizens, resulting in the lowest participation level. The other is a participatory approach that requires more resources, where citizens are highly involved in the assessment of their resilience. They co-produce the resilience assessment together with the Municipality of Dordrecht, resulting in the highest participation level. The designs link the concepts of public participation and resilience assessment. By incorporating the three phases of resilience assessments a stepwise approach was constructed. Per phase, the goal of that phase, and examples of participatory methods that can contribute to that goal are displayed. This gives guidance on using participatory methods in resilience assessments. Based on the design requirements the two scenarios of the participatory approach are validated by the Municipality of Dordrecht. Also, general comments on the content of the scenarios are mentioned in the validation phase. Multiple improvements are made towards the final design, with a specific focus on the three resilience assessment phases. The connection between these phases is made more clear, the difference between the low-resources and high-resources scenario is emphasised and a Dutch translation is provided to make the approach more applicable in the context of the Municipality of Dordrecht. Conclusion This research presents two scenarios of a participatory approach, which involves citizens in the assessment of their flood resilience, and the resilience of the buildings they are living in. Through an extensive literature study, and research in the Municipality of Dordrecht, literature is combined with specific case study information. This research contributes to the current body of literature by giving guidance on the use of participatory methods in resilience assessments, by explicitly stressing the importance public participation has in resilience assessments. It contributes to community flood resilience in Dordrecht by involving citizens in understanding their flood resilience, measuring it, and lastly improving their flood resilience, and the flood resilience of the cultural heritage they are living in. Recommendations Recommendations for future research and practical recommendations were formulated. Future research should be done on implementing and evaluating the participatory approach in practice to complete the design science methodology applied in this research. Also, more research should be done on synthesising the concepts of public participation and resilience assessments in the future. Practical recommendations refer to the Dordrecht case specifically. It is recommended to appoint an expert in the field of public participation and resilience assessments to implement the participatory approach. Also, an evaluation of the implementation is recommended to determine if any improvements are needed in the participatory approach. Moreover, it is recommended to implement the high-resource scenario in the unembanked area, since the municipality is already providing information about floods in that area and since citizens perceive at the moment limited participation there. For the embanked area it is recommended to start with the low-resource scenario, since there is not yet any information provided in that area. By using that scenario the threshold for citizens to be involved is lower. However, if the municipality strives for a higher participation level, the high-resource scenario could also be implemented in the embanked area. |
| Item Type: | Essay (Master) |
| Faculty: | ET: Engineering Technology |
| Programme: | Civil Engineering and Management MSc (60026) |
| Link to this item: | https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/92108 |
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