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https://theconversation.com/not-if-but-when-city-planners-need-to-design-for-flooding-these-examples-show-the-way-157578>
"As the current New South Wales flooding highlights, it’s not enough to
continue to build cities and towns based on business-as-usual planning
principles — especially as these disasters tend to disproportionately affect
disadvantaged populations, increasing inequality in Australia.
We need to design our urban spaces around the idea that flooding is inevitable.
That means not building on flood plains, and thinking creatively about what can
be done to create urban “sinks” to hold water when floods strike.
Examples from overseas show what’s possible when the political will is there.
Keeping people out of harm’s way
It beggars belief this needs to be said, but it is a government responsibility
to keep citizens out of harm’s way. The ongoing plans for new housing in
flood-prone areas such as the Hawkesbury-Nepean Valley directly contravene
that.
Understanding urban flooding requires us to contend with the underlying natural
systems over which we have built our cities and towns.
We have learned the hard way we cannot effectively “design out” flooding.
Instead, we must find ways to work with the natural systems of drainage and
catchments. We must create urban systems to accommodate flood waters. That
reduces risk to houses, schools, hospitals, businesses and other key
infrastructure."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
