A systematic design approach for objectifying Building with Nature solutions

Hydraulic engineering infrastructure is supposed to keep functioning for many years and is likely to interfere with both the natural and the social environment at various scales. Due to its long life-cycle, hydraulic infrastructure is bound to face changing environmental conditions as well as changes in societal views on acceptable solutions. This implies that sustainability and adaptability are/should be important attributes of the design, the development and operation of hydraulic engineering infrastructure. Sustainability and adaptability are central to the Building with Nature (BwN) approach. Although nature-based design philosophies, such as BwN, have found broad support, a key issue that inhibits a wider mainstream implementation is the lack of a method to objectify BwN concepts. With objectifying, we mean turning the implicit into an explicit engineerable ‘object’, on the one hand, and specifying clear design ‘objectives’, on the other. This paper proposes the “Frame of Reference” approach as a method to systematically transform BwN concepts into functionally specified engineering designs. It aids the rationalisation of BwN concepts and facilitates the transfer of crucial information between project development phases, which benefits the uptake, acceptance and eventually the successful realisation of BwN solutions. It includes an iterative approach that is well suited for assessing status changes of naturally dynamic living building blocks of BwN solutions. The applicability of the approach is shown for a case that has been realised in the Netherlands. Although the example is Dutch, the method, as such, is generically applicable

Objectifying Building with Nature strategies: Towards scale-resolving policies

By definition, Building with Nature solutions utilise services provided by the natural system and/or provide new opportunities to that system. As a consequence, such solutions are sensitive to the status of, and interact with the surrounding system. A thorough understanding of the ambient natural system is therefore necessary to meet the required specifications and to realise the potential interactions with that system. In order to be adopted beyond the pilot scale, the potential impact of multiple BwN solutions on the natural and societal systems of a region need to be established. This requires a ‘reality check’ of the effectiveness of multiple, regional-scale applications in terms of social and environmental costs and benefits. Reality checking will help establish the upscaling potential of a certain BwN measure when addressing a larger-scale issue. Conversely, it might reveal to what extent specific smaller-scale measures are suitable in light of larger regional-scale issues. This paper presents a stepwise method to approach a reality check on BwN solutions, based on the Frame of Reference method described in a companion paper (de Vries et al., 2020), and illustrates its use by two example cases. The examples show that a successful pilot project is not always a guarantee of wider applicability and that a broader application may involve dilemmas concerning environment, policy and legislation

Am I Safe? Copernicus downstream service is zooming in on coastal flood risk

FAST project poster for the EUROPEAN STAND of the GEO WEEK EXHIBITION (Washington DC, October 2017

Experiment-supported modelling of salt marsh establishment

Recently, the use of salt marshes in front of hard structures is increasingly proposed as a more sustainable coastal protection measure. Yet, salt marsh restoration and creation is often hampered by the lack of a thorough understanding of initial vegetation establishment. Recent studies highlight the importance of bed level change for salt marsh development. In this study we continue the examination of the impact of bed level change on salt marsh development, focussing on the prediction of salt marsh establishment and the implications for coastal management. First, a test with Spartina anglica seedlings (Cordgrass) in a wave flume showed that long-term (seasonal) bed level change is more important for seedling survival than direct wave impact at the shoot. Therefore, we subsequently incorporated bed level change in the Windows of Opportunity (WoO) framework. Lastly, this revised WoO framework was applied to the design of the Marconi pioneer salt marsh (The Netherlands). Combining the WoO framework with a morphodynamic model (Delft3D) showed its potential for salt marsh design. The framework can be used to determine whether salt marsh establishment is possible, to find out which conditions are limiting establishment and to design engineering measures creating the conditions that facilitate salt marsh establishment

Foreshore Assessment using Space Technology

Poster presented in SENTINEL-2 for Science Workshop (ESA-ESRIN, Frascati, Italy) on the 20th, 21st and 22nd May 2014. See more information about this workshop in http://seom.esa.int/S2forScience2014FORESHORE ASSESSMENT USING SPACE TECHNOLOGY. Vegetated foreshores and floodplains provide important ecosystem services. These include benefits for coastal defence: the foreshores attenuate waves, enhance sedimentation and reduce erosion, mitigating flood risk. At present, this function of wetland ecosystems is hardly incorporated in coastal defence schemes. Yet considering foreshores and floodplains in water safety assessments and in levee design can result in considerable cost reductions for flood risk management. In the EU-funded project FAST (Foreshore Assessment using Space Technology, 2014-2018), we aim to develop a GMES/Copernicus downstream service, combining Sentinel satellite data and in situ data to integrate the functioning of wetlands in flood risk management strategies. Sentinel data will be used to retrieve relevant biophysical parameters to characterise the foreshore, such as the morphology/topography of the foreshores, the density/biomass and type of vegetation, and the sediment type. Because of their location at the dynamic interface of land and water, foreshores and floodplains pose particular challenges for satellite observation and analysis, both regarding spatial and spectral resolution (due to the large environmental gradients and heterogeneity) and regarding temporal resolution (due to the large temporal variation as a result of, for example, tidal inundation). Information on some key variables is not readily available, and applicability of some relevant biophysical parameters and indicators developed for the terrestrial realm (such as Leaf Area Index, NDVI) remain to be tested for the characterisation of foreshores. The advent of the superspectral Sentinel-2 MSI opens up the potential to detect such characteristics from a spaceborne platform in a consistent way, based on an appropriate spectral, spatial and temporal resolution, with substantial (regional) coverage. However, a thorough assessment is required to optimize and validate retrieval schemes for the spatial characterisation of foreshores. At eight case-study sites across Europe (Spain, Romania, United Kingdom and the Netherlands), ground referencing will be executed to aid the retrieval of information from Sentinel imagery. Validation includes measurements of sediment type and vegetation density/biomass and hyperspectral reflectance of vegetation types. The in situ and remote sensing data will be combined with measurements on wave attenuation and erosion/deposition regimes. The results will provide insight in forshore stability and in the buffering function of foreshores and floodplains. From the collected data general relationships between foreshore and floodplain characteristics and flood risk mitigation properties will be derived. These will be implemented in a GIS based tool for integrating wetlands into cost efficient and safe flood risk management strategies.This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme for research, technological development and demonstration.POSTE