Coastal Engineers Embrace Nature: Characterizing the Metamorphosis in Hydraulic Engineering in Terms of Four Continua

Jill H. Slinger,Heleen S. I. Vreugdenhil

doi:10.3390/w12092504

Jill H. Slinger, Heleen S. I. Vreugdenhil

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/w12092504

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Journal: Water	Publication Date: Sep 8, 2020
Citations: 7	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: Delft University of Technology, Rhodes University, Deltares

Abstract

Hydraulic engineering infrastructures, such as reservoirs, dikes, breakwaters, and inlet closures, have significantly impacted ecosystem functioning over the last two centuries. Currently, nature-based solutions are receiving increasing attention in hydraulic engineering projects and research programs. However, there is a lack of reflection on the concomitant, fundamental changes occurring in the field of hydraulic engineering, and coastal engineering in particular, and what this could mean for sustainability. In this article, we signal the shift from conventional to ecosystem-based hydraulic engineering design and characterize this in terms of four continua: (i) the degree of inclusion of ecological knowledge, (ii) the extent to which the full infrastructural lifecycle is addressed, (iii) the complexity of the actor arena taken into account, and (iv) the resulting form of the infrastructural artefact. We support our arguments with two carefully selected, iconic examples from the Netherlands and indicate how the stretching ideals of ecosystem-based engineering could engender further shifts towards sustainability.

Highlights

Since its inception, hydraulic engineering has focused on the design of infrastructures to serve expressed societal needs within the natural aquatic environment
We characterize the metamorphosis in the field of hydraulic engineering in terms of four continua spanning (i) the degree of inclusion of ecological knowledge, (ii) the extent to which the full infrastructural lifecycle is addressed in the hydraulic engineering design, (iii) the complexity of the actor arena taken into account, and (iv) the resulting form of the infrastructural artefact
The output of an engineering design process is a design artefact, and it is the changing form of hydraulic engineering artefacts that has received the most attention from proponents of nature-based solutions [7,8,9,10,11,12]

Summary

Introduction

Hydraulic engineering has focused on the design of infrastructures to serve expressed societal needs within the natural aquatic environment. Hydraulic designs focus on controlling or withstanding natural fluctuations to facilitate economic and social development and to create safe living spaces for humans. Dam construction to store water and ensure freshwater supply even under low river flow conditions, building breakwaters to allow safe access to harbors, or designing dikes for flood defense. After two centuries of hydrological modification of many systems across the globe, it is widely understood that these infrastructures impact the natural regulatory services of ecosystems [2]. The growth in understanding of the natural environment, its benefits for human society [1,2], and the inequity of the expressed societal needs [6] is changing the field of hydraulic engineering

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