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Flood season in our country is characterized by frequent heavy rains, and flood problems are becoming increasingly serious. The uneven distribution of water resources causes conflicts in the occurrence of floods and droughts. Implementing effective flood control planning and solving drought and flood disasters are the research highlights of relevant institutions both domestic and abroad. This study develops a multiscale method of urban flood control planning based on microcirculation. A microcirculation water ecosystem, which consists of six elements, namely, collecting, interacting, precipitating, reserving, storing, and purifying, is introduced. This study investigates precipitation; peak shaving; recycle mode of filtration at the macro level in different regions; “hierarchy” in rainwater ecosystems in rain parks, heavy rain garden parks, and wetland parks at the meso level; and the concept of zero-emission rain in residential areas and roads at the micro level. Finally, this study analyzes a rain garden and its domestic application. A conclusion is drawn that the flood control planning model based on microcirculation can effectively reduce rain runoff. Empirical measurement proves that the proposed multiscale model for city flood control planning based on microcirculation promotes flood control and effectively reduces the occurrence of droughts and floods.

The problem of urban drainage has become more serious with the rapid development of urban construction. The idea of combining geographic information system (GIS) technology with flood control in solving the urban drainage problem has received increasing attention. The idea and process of GIS as the key technology in vertical planning were analyzed in this study based on the GIS technology characteristics. This paper presents the new idea of integrating flood control and drainage mode into vertical planning and the optimization method in vertical planning. Taking the vertical planning of the north shore of Xiaoqing River in Ji'nan as an example, the model of the present scenario and the corresponding terrain model of the different flood control drainage standards were established. The standard model of the flood control and drainage of Xiaoqing River was determined through comparison. The relationship between vertical planning, flood control, and drainage mode was analyzed and optimized on the basis of the practical engineering results. Improving the optimization measures can result in the good convergence of vertical planning and drainage content, which is conducive to the development of urban flood control.

The purpose of this paper is to assess the main changes regarding flood policy in Spain during the period 1983-2013, that is right after the large and very damaging episodes of 1982-1983 in Valencia, Catalonia and the Basque Country.

This is above all a review paper that looks retrospectively at flood policy in Spain during the past three decades. In order to collect and organize the information the authors follow the methodology of the IPCC regarding vulnerability studies. That is, the authors provide evidence for an overall assessment of the evolution of exposure, sensibility and adaptive capacity to floods in Spain for the period of reference. The authors approach these issues through the own experience and expertise on this subject as noted in the reference list.

While exposure to floods has generally increased (especially after the massive growth of urbanization in flood prone land of the 1990s and early 2000s) overall flood policy has contributed to make Spain less sensible and more adapted to floods. Still some issues remain unsolved especially the control of urban growth and the adaptation of the built environment to floods. For these reasons absolute economic losses from floods may continue to be important in the future (perhaps more so with climate change) even though, overall, Spanish society may have become less vulnerable and therefore more resilient than in the past.

The paper provides a retrospective study and assessment of policies taken and their changes regarding floods at a national level over a long period of time (30 years) which is a theme still relatively little explored in the scientific literature on this hazard.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the reasons for an unusual over‐development of flood‐prone areas outside the river dyke in Hanoi, while analysing the urban development and disaster management policies, and to suggest policy measures for regulating the rapid urbanization incorporating catastrophic flood risk planning.

Urban development and disaster management policies were analyzed and key stakeholders were interviewed to discover the effectiveness of the policies and governance tasks.

A discrepancy was identified between the goals of urban development and disaster management. The negative side of this discrepancy has been amplified by ineffective Construction Regulations and a lack of specificity with regard to Ordinances on Dyke. These factors, combined with poor coordination and lack of motivation within the city authorities in managing the Riverside Urban Areas (RUA), have contributed to the over‐development, which consists primarily of squatting and illegal construction.

Along with a consideration of community perception of catastrophic flood risk in the RUA, which has been examined, the paper further analyses the effectiveness of related policies for catastrophic risk reduction in the RUA.

The paper identifies the following effective measures: build and share a knowledge base concerning catastrophic flood risk and sustainable ways of coping with the flood; be responsible and develop a commitment to manage flood‐prone areas; and develop better coordination between urban development and flood management.

The paper suggests new policy standards for managing the RUA development and reducing flood risks.

Located at the center of the Red River Delta, Hanoi is the consequence of the unstable balance between soil and water and has witnessed the amicable and adverse relationship between the two elements over a long history. Established as a small town in A.D. 210, Hanoi grew from a harbor on the bank of the Red River to a thriving city and was chosen to be the capital of Vietnam in 1010 as the site had advantageous physical, landscape, and geomancy characteristics. However, the capital had also been confronted with difficulties due to the alluvial process, which raises the level of the watercourse above its normal elevation forcing the inhabitants to take measures such as building a dyke to prevent floods. This chapter analyzes the natural and social conditions as well as several problems that have been affecting urban flood risk management in Hanoi. The chapter ends with practical options and policy measures to address the problems.

The purpose of this paper is to present a novel approach that examines the vulnerability and interdependency of critical infrastructures using the network theory in geographic information system (GIS) setting in combination with literature and government reports. Specifically, the objectives of this study were to generate the network models of critical infrastructure systems (CISs), particularly electricity, roads and sewerage networks; to characterize the CISs’ interdependencies; and to outline the climate adaptation (CA) and flood mitigation measures of CIS.

An integrated approach was undertaken in assessing the vulnerability and interdependency of critical infrastructures. A single system model and system-of-systems model were operationalized to examine the vulnerability and interdependency of the identified critical infrastructures in GIS environment. Existing CA and flood mitigation measures from government reports were integrated in the above-mentioned findings to better understand and gain focus in the implementation of natural disaster risk reduction (DRR) policies, particularly during the 2010/2011 floods in Queensland, Australia.

Using the results from the above-mentioned approach, the spatially explicit framework was developed with four key operational dimensions: conceiving the climate risk environment; understanding the critical infrastructures’ common cause and cascade failures; modeling individual infrastructure system and system-of-systems level within GIS setting; and integrating the above-mentioned results with the government reports to increase CA and resilience measures of flood-affected critical infrastructures.

While natural DRR measures include preparation, response and recovery, this study focused on flood mitigation. Temporal analysis and application to other natural disasters were also not considered in the analysis.

By providing this information, government-owned corporations, CISs managers and other concerned stakeholders will allow to identify infrastructure assets that are highly critical, identify vulnerable infrastructures within areas of very high flood risk, examine the interdependency of critical infrastructures and the effects of cascaded failures, identify ways of reducing flood risk and extreme climate events and prioritize DRR measures and CA strategies.

The individualist or “pigeon-hole” approach has been the common method of analyzing infrastructures’ exposure to flood hazards and tends to separately examine the risk for different types of infrastructure (e.g. electricity, water, sewerage, roads and rails and stormwater). This study introduced an integrated approach of analyzing infrastructure risk to damage and cascade failure due to flooding. Aside from introducing the integrated approach, this study operationalized GIS-based vulnerability assessment and interdependency of critical infrastructures which had been unsubstantially considered in the past analytical frameworks. The authors considered this study of high significance, considering that floodplain planning schemes often lack the consideration of critical infrastructure interdependency.

Discusses flood risk in Malaysia, which has increased alarmingly in recent decades largely due to changing physical characteristics of the hydrological system caused by human activities: continued development of already densely populated flood plains, encroachment on flood‐prone areas, destruction of forests and hill slopes development. Flood losses are high but disastrous flood events which occurred in the past as a consequence of rapid development and environmental degradation are forgotten quickly, people choosing to see only the positive benefits of a booming economy while turning a blind eye to their negative effects. Suggests that, within a climate of sustained economic boom, policy makers as well as Malaysians from all walks of life are understandably less concerned about floods than they are about the financial gains that can be reaped from a booming economy. States that official solutions for flood control are largely engineering based and are ineffective to combat extensive monsoon floods.

This paper aims to investigate reasons for unusual overdevelopment of floodplain areas outside river dyke, provide an insight into the importance of community perception of catastrophic flood risk in the riverside urban areas (RUA) of Hanoi and establishes the need for participatory disaster management planning and disaster management education in the study location.

Structured survey was conducted in five wards in the RUA to understand how residents perceived flood risk.

The low perception of catastrophic flood risk among communities was found to be an important factor in the continued development of the RUA and led to the trust in their houses as a prominent protective solution. Moreover, the flood vulnerability of the areas has been increasing due to the missing link between local authorities and community.

This paper examines community perception of flood risk as one of main factors. Other factors such as availability of options for housing, public participation and relevant policy interventions are beyond the scope of the paper and need to be studied in the same location.

To regulate the development of the RUA, community perception of catastrophic flood risk should be changed and community leaders should be motivated, with involvement of local authority at ward offices, to conduct comprehensive hands‐on community education programs.

Few researches have been done on the overdevelopment and community perception in the flood‐prone areas. This paper not only reaffirms the few studies made in the past but also suggests broad interventions for enhancing the flood risk perception among the community members.

Coordinating the relationship between economic development and environmental protection has emerged as a relevant issue in the economic and social development of China under the pressure of global climate change and international carbon emission reduction. Based on this, starting from the model of traffic structure and land use, land use planning for low carbon cities abroad was studied in this paper. Based on the analysis of urban ecological economic carbon cycle and its land regulation mechanism, the evaluation method of urban land use carbon effect was put forward. Taking the carbon circulation as the premise, starting from the layout characteristics of the urban land use factors, land use planning for urban residential, transportation, industrial and green land was optimized. Taking million springs Music City in Hainan as the example, the ecological planning layout was analyzed. And the planning was carried out from the aspects of spatial pattern, low carbon economy industry, green traffic, flood prevention and green landscape, etc. Urban carbon balance was realized. The results show that the carbon circulation and carbon consumption planning and management of the urban eco economic system based on land use structure optimization are conducive to promoting the development of urban low-carbon economy.

The paper aims to discuss bureaucratic management, over‐confidence in scientific theory, information distortion and lack of coordination with particular focus on the post‐Hurricane Katrina situation.

The paper examines efficiency arguments for centralized control and the potential for government failure. It also analyzes the disaster of Hurricane Katrina with these problems in mind.

The Flood Act of 1928 officially transferred the responsibility of flood protection along the Mississippi River to the federal government. While it is true that local provision failed to eliminate the problem of flooding, the problems caused by federal provision have not been fully appreciated. The specific characteristics of flood protection as well as the general problems caused by bureaucratic management and the absence of market mechanisms suggest that local provision of flood protection is a more efficient solution.

The arguments in this paper suggest that, the previous belief in centralized flood management was unfounded.