Living with water - Floodable urban quarters

Master thesis by Christoph Fleckenstein

[Extract]

People have always liked to settle by the water, as water is essential to life. Water exerts an almost magical pull on people, and as a result, there has been a growing interest in rivers as holiday destinations in recent years (BFN 2016a). River landscapes, with their floodplains and adjacent towns, offer an attractive mix of diverse, high-quality recreational and leisure opportunities (BFN 2016a). However, living by the water also carries risks, most commonly in the form of flooding. To mitigate flood damage, large dam and dyke systems have been built along many rivers to protect settlements from flooding. Technical flood protection is physically limited, as beyond a certain point dykes cannot be built any higher. Thus, technical flood protection often solves the flood problem locally, only to shift it further downstream (BFN 2018a). The idea behind natural flood protection is to create new floodplains by relocating dykes, thereby giving the river more space. The aim is then to renature the floodplains and riparian forests in these new areas to enhance the effect of natural flood protection (BFN 2013). The aim of this thesis is to develop flood-adaptive settlement typologies and thereby create synergies between floodplains, flood protection, open spaces and urban development. The focus here is on managing open spaces that change in response to river dynamics, on flood-adapted open-space design, and on how to establish spatial connections between interior and exterior spaces. To this end, an analysis of the dynamics of floodplains in the form of floodplain meadows and forests, the flood regimes of rivers, flood protection, current flood-adapted buildings and open spaces, and, last but not least, an analysis of potential areas along rivers is essential. Based on the findings of the analysis, example designs will then be developed at three locations, each tailored to the specific situation. These designs represent a concept for a new approach to floodplains in urban areas.