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Founded in 1798, Rijkswaterstaat, the Dutch government’s agency for infrastructural works, brought flood security, navigable waterways and highways to the Netherlands. It is an iconic institution within Dutch society, best known for its ‘battle against the water’. The Zuiderzee Works (1920–1968) and the Delta Works (1954–1997) brought worldwide acclaim. This chapter tells the story of a humble semi-military organization that developed into a formidable institution of civil engineers with a strong technocratic mission mystique. It also recounts the institutional crisis the agency experienced in the 1970s–1990s when it was too slow to adapt to major sociocultural and political changes. To ride the waves of change, it eventually developed several proactive adaptation strategies and reinvented its mission mystique in managerial terms. Adaptation to climate change now presents another key challenge, for which Rijkswaterstaat will have to develop a new ‘social license to operate’.

Na tien jaar nadert het programma Ruimte voor de Rivier de eindstreep. De resultaten zijn ernaar: het rivierengebied is zeker veiliger gemaakt voor de gevolgen van de klimaatverandering. Onderzoekers van de Rijksuniversiteit Groningen analyseerden wat er terecht is gekomen van de tweede belangrijke doelstelling van het programma: het versterken van de ruimtelijke kwaliteit in het rivierengebied. En welke strategieën er zijn toegepast om dat te bereiken. Denk hierbij aan de project-gedreven strategie, de programma-als-achtervang-strategie en de all-in strategie.

Due to climate changes, the volume of the water flowing in the rivers will continue to increase and the sea level will continue to rise. To be able to cope with potential future flood disasters, Dutch policy makers now try to elaborate and implement a new safety concept, called ‘space for the river’. The basic idea of this new safety concept is to increase the amount of space for the rivers, and by that to enlarge their discharge capacity. The aim of the large national ‘Space for Rivers’ project is to develop river-widening measures which improve both the safety of the inhabitants and the spatial quality of the riverine areas at the same time. Replacing dikes, digging out old river branches or creating new ones (bypasses) are some examples of possible measures. This paper focuses on the institutional dynamics brought about by this new safety concept. The national water management agency Rijkswaterstaat realised that for the implementation of this new safety concept it is largely dependent on the cooperation of other national ministries, provinces, municipalities, water boards, NGOs and inhabitants of the areas along the main rivers. Therefore, an innovative policy process was designed aimed at joint learning, and at creating administrative and societal support for an ambitious river policy program. During this process three key-dilemmas became apparent. First, there is a permanent tension, partly caused by financial scarcity, between the objectives of safety and spatial quality. Secondly, in spite of the interactive policy design chosen, existing institutions, such as the procedure for large scale infrastructure projects (‘PKB-procedure’), do support governmental hierarchy rather than horizontal modes of governance. Finally, there is a tension between long term and short term policy objectives. In other words: what relative importance is attached to either reaching safety standards in the short run or anticipating future river discharges? The main argument of this paper is that to better understand these dilemmas we need to reconstruct the frames of reference of the parties involved and the different rules of the game water managers and spatial planners are used to play.

Het idee van een ‘overstromingsveerkrachtige stad’ krijgt steeds meer aandacht, zowel in academisch onderzoek als in beleid. Bij dit idee gaat het erom dat een stad zich kan weren tegen of aanpassen aan overstromingen, zonder in haar functionaliteit aangetast te worden, en daarbij in staat is om te transformeren naar een nieuwe, minder overstromingskwetsbare staat. Dit klinkt veelbelovend, maar het trekt wel traditionele benaderingen en instituties in twijfel. Bovendien vraagt het om een sterkere integratie van overstromingsrisicomanagement en ruimtelijke ordening, en noopt het tot nieuwe vormen bestuur waarin overheid, markt en burger samenwerken. Dit alles roept de vraag op hoe, en in welke mate, deze belofte in de praktijk is gebracht. Dit boek presenteert een studie naar hoe betekenis is gegeven aan het begrip veerkracht binnen overstromingsrisicomanagement strategieën in de stadsregio’s Londen en Rotterdam. Daarnaast belicht dit boek hoe overstromingsveerkracht is geïmplementeerd in stedelijke herontwikkelingsprojecten in Hamburg en Londen. Al met al laat deze studie zien dat in alle drie de steden de neiging bestaat om overstromingsveerkracht op te nemen in bestaande benaderingen. Echter, veerkracht wordt hiermee opgenomen in een nogal technisch-rationele manier van denken, met een sterke nadruk op indicatoren en technische overstromingsmaatregelen. Meer transformatieve benaderingen lijken (nog) niet mogelijk, mede door onduidelijkheden rondom machtsverhoudingen, sociale gerechtigheid en lokale capaciteiten. Alhoewel er valide redenen zijn om vast te houden aan het huidige systeem, lijkt het opportuun om alvast op kleine schaal te gaan experimenten met meer integrale ruimtelijke en sociale maatregelen ten behoeve van overstromingsveerkracht, zeker gezien de toekomstige uitdagingen rondom klimaatadaptatie.

Cities in Southeast Asia are regularly impacted by increasing flood risks and the consequences of climate change. In these urbanized regions, the social and economic impacts of flooding are often unfairly distributed, with low-income communities being most affected by flood- and climate-related risks. Despite the urgency due to the economic and societal impacts of flood disaster in the region, little investment is made regarding proactive and long-term solutions for urban flood risk management. Many cities still rely on technical measures, such as flood protection infrastructure. The overall research aim of this thesis is to explore and understand institutional transformation for inclusive flood resilience planning in urbanized regions in Southeast Asia, and how international resilience programs can contribute to this transformation. Recognizing the complexity of the flood resilience planning process, the critical perspective developed in this study emphasizes the importance of an inclusive process as well as the role of language and meaning-making in the formulation of resilience strategies, and it stresses the development of enabling institutional capacities and conditions for inclusive flood resilience planning. The issues of ‘social justice’ issue and ‘inclusivity’ in flood resilience planning should be anticipated by the city’s resilience policy makers and experts to prevent a deepening of unequal flood vulnerabilities among local communities. This study invites future research to explore the various possibilities of using flood resilience planning as a vehicle to stimulate planning for cities that are fair and inclusive.