Docent lecture: “When the levee breaks: Spatial and temporal dynamics of flood risk”

In 1971 Led Zeppelin sang When the levee breaks, I'll have no place to stay.

In this lecture I will agree with the Led Zeppelin that building a levee for flood risk mitigation might indeed not be a sustainable solution, if unintended consequences are not addressed.

The traditional approach to assess flood risk is based on the combination of the probability of the hazard to occur and the potential flood damages to society (Led Zeppelin not having a place to stay).

However, this approach does not account for the feedback dynamics between the social and natural processes and how their interaction affect flood risk (did the same levee enable Led Zeppelin to live in a flood risk area?).

I will discuss feedback dynamics, show methods to spot them and discuss how they should be incorporated in flood risk management.