Abstract
This paper focuses on the spatial distribution of the dominant and relevant benefits of urban flood management based on context‐ and location‐specific evaluations. We explore the conceptual rationale and describe a detailed methodology for assessing the benefit profile, benefit intensity, and comment on benefit dependencies arising from urban flood management practices that utilise green infrastructure. A case study is described which demonstrates the application of the concepts in Portland, Oregon, USA. A Geographic Information System approach is developed to evaluate some of the multiple benefits of the East Lents Floodplain Restoration Project. Results are presented in the form of a comparative benefit profile, and a spatially distributed benefit intensity. The paper concludes with the implications of the methodology for future multiple benefit evaluation of urban drainage and flood management systems.
Highlights
An important principle in the design of sustainable infrastructure is to seek multifunctionality in asset performance
The conceptual approach in this paper enables further refinement of the aggregated benefit distribution into a Geographic Information System (GIS) toolbox, where users can input benefit categories that are relevant to particular circumstances and to visually identify where benefit hotspots occur across urban spaces
Whilst the example used in this paper has considered an assessment of the multiple benefits emanating from a large flood alleviation scheme, the method proposed can be applied to smaller individual or cumulative Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS) interventions in an urban setting and used to assess the benefit uplift achieved by retrofitted assets
Summary
An important principle in the design of sustainable infrastructure is to seek multifunctionality in asset performance. In justifying approaches to flood risk management which prioritise the use of green infrastructure (GI) and restored natural systems over alternative pipe and concrete channel solutions, there is a need to understand the wider benefits that such approaches can deliver and where and to whom they accrue This need is pressing for flood risk reduction applications, because constructed solutions tend to have larger volume storage and flood reduction/mitigation capabilities than the individual small-scale assets designed to manage water from more frequent storms. Many practitioners seek to monetise the disparate range of multiple benefits, which can accrue for incorporation in conventional cost-benefit balance sheets, and tools have recently been developed that attempt this (e.g. CIRIA RP993, 2015) To complement these methods, the approach described here is to place the benefit appraisal in a local context (as a relative uplift from an initial existing condition state) and to completely understand their spatial distribution and aggregated impact on a range of stakeholder groups and beneficiaries. This represents a first step towards incorporating such a benefit appraisal into a multicriteria decision format, for example, by using a simple approach based on the Analytical Hierarchy Procedure, through systematic pairwise comparison of benefits
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