Resilient Infrastructures for Reducing Urban Flooding Risks

Modern cities are complex and vulnerable environments, and at the same time a concentration of resources and wealth. Sustainable development increasingly relies on the successful planning and management of urban growth, especially in hazard-prone regions. Example, flood losses are expected to increase due to such urbanization, and climate change. When taking a long-term view, resilience is necessary for sustainable urban growth, thus urban planning includes the capability to withstand and bounce back from adverse events. As infrastructure is a core component of disaster risk reduction, the current challenge is to manage the resilient city's transformation process based on resilient infrastructure, thus enabling the city to provide services to its inhabitants even under adverse conditions. In recent years, a wide bulk of research has challenged practice and ways of thinking for the transformation of existing cities into adaptive and resilient environments. This chapter aims to discuss the role of infrastructure in resilient cities with a focus on adaptation strategies; it will review the main notions and concepts, and discuss a case study as proof of concept. The city of Jingdezhen (China) represents an example of flood-wise city at the forefront for practice of flood risk management, where infrastructure resilience reduces the impacts of flooding in the city. The combined approach using structural and non-structural measures reflects the general shift in thinking and practice, which in recent years has moved away from a flood control approach, towards increased flood risk management. This approach recognises that floods cannot be entirely prevented and aims to promote a philosophy of living with floods.