Understanding Urban Flood Resilience in the Anthropocene: A Social–Ecological–Technological Systems (SETS) Learning Framework

Abstract

Urban flooding is a major concern in many cities around the world. Together with continuous urbanization, extreme weather events are likely to increase the magnitude and frequency of flood hazards and exposure in populated regions. This article examines the changing pathways of flood risk management (FRM) in Portland, Oregon; Seoul, South Korea; and Tokyo, Japan, which have different histories of land development and flood severity. We used city governance documents to identify how FRM strategies have changed in the study cities. Using a combined framework of social learning with an integrated social–ecological–technological systems (SETS) lens, we show what components of SETS have been emphasized and how FRM strategies have diversified over time. In response to historical flood events, these cities built hard infrastructure such as levees to reduce flood risks. The recent paradigm shift in urban FRM, such as the adoption of socioecological elements in SETS, including floodplain restoration, green infrastructure, and public education, is a response to making cities more resilient or transformative to the anticipated future extreme floods. The pathways that cities have taken and the main emphasis across SETS elements differ by city, however, suggesting that opportunities exist for learning from each city’s experience collectively to tackle global flooding issues.

城市洪水是世界上许多城市的一个主要问题。伴随着持续的城市化, 极端天气事件可能会增加人口稠密地区洪水灾害和暴露的强度和频率。本文考察了美国俄勒冈州波特兰、韩国首尔和日本东京的洪水风险管理（FRM）的变化轨迹。这些城市有不同的土地开发历史和洪水严重程度。在这些城市中, 本文利用城市治理文件来确定FRM策略是如何变化的。通过社会学习、社会生态技术系统（SETS）视角的综合框架, 我们展示了SETS哪些部分得到强调, 以及FRM策略如何随时间而变得多样化。为应对历史洪水事件、降低洪水风险, 这些城市修建了防洪堤等硬件基础设施。近来, 城市FRM发生了转变, 例如SETS采用了社会生态元素（包括河漫滩恢复、绿色基础设施和公共教育）, 是为了使城市在预期的未来极端洪水中更具弹性或变革性。然而, 各城市采取了不同的方式和SETS重点要素。这表明, 存在着各城市互相学习、共同解决全球洪水问题的机遇。

La inundación urbana es una seria preocupación en muchas ciudades alrededor del mundo. Junto con la urbanización continua, los eventos meteorológicos extremos probablemente incrementarán la magnitud y frecuencia de los riesgos de inundación y exposición en regiones populosas. Este artículo examina las cambiantes alternativas de manejo del riesgo de inundación (FRM) en Portland, Oregón; Seúl, Corea del Sur; y Tokio, Japón, ciudades que tienen diferentes historias del manejo de la tierra y severidad de la inundación. Usamos documentos de gobernanza de la ciudad para identificar el modo como las estrategias del FRM han cambiado en las ciudades del estudio. Usando un marco combinado de aprendizaje social con la lente de un sistema social–eclógico–tecnológico integrado (SETS), mostramos qué componentes del SETS han sido enfatizados y cómo las estrategias del FRM se han diversificado a través del tiempo. En respuesta a eventos de inundación históricos, estas ciudades construyeron infraestructura tan fuerte como los diques para reducir los riesgos de la inundación. El reciente cambio de paradigma en el FRM urbano, como la adopción de elementos socioecológicos en los SETS, incluyendo la restauración de la planicie inundable, infraestructura verde y educación pública, es una respuesta que busca hacer las ciudades más resilientes o transformativas en anticipación de futuras inundaciones extremas. Sin embargo, el camino que las ciudades están siguiendo y el énfasis principal a través de los elementos de los SETS difieren de una ciudad a otra, lo cual sugiere que hay oportunidades de aprender colectivamente de la experiencia de cada ciudad para enfrentar las cuestiones propias de las inundaciones en perspectiva global.

Key Words:

• climate change
• resilience
• social learning
• urban floods
• urbanization

关键词:

• ：气候变化
• 弹性
• 社会学习
• 城市洪水
• 城市化。

Palabras clave:

• aprendizaje social
• cambio climático
• inundaciones urbanas
• resiliencia
• urbanización

Acknowledgments

We appreciate Professors Takashi Oguchi, Taikan Oki, and Hyungjun Kim of the University of Tokyo for their constructive comments on the initial phase of the work. Kevin Grove at Florida International University and two anonymous reviewers offered valuable comments that helped strengthen many points of the article. Thanks also go to Yasuyo Makido of Portland State University and Jungbae Kim of Sejong University, who compiled materials used in the article.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation (SES 1444755, CIS-1913665), Korea Environment Industry & Technology Institute through the Advanced Water Management Research Program, funded by the Korea Ministry of Environment (Grant 83079), a grant from the Abe Fellowship Program administered by the Social Science Research Council in cooperation with and with funds provided by the Japan Foundation Center for Global Partnership, and the Center for the Environment at Purdue University through its C4E seed grant program. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the sponsoring agencies.

Notes on contributors

Heejun Chang

HEEJUN CHANG is a Professor in the Department of Geography at Portland State University, Portland, OR 97201. E-mail: [email protected]. His research focuses on the combined impacts of climate change and urban development on water resource resilience, including water supply, quality, demand, floods, and water-related ecosystem services.

David J. Yu

DAVID J. YU is an Assistant Professor with joint appointments in the Lyles School of Civil Engineering and the Department of Political Science at Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907. E-mail: [email protected]. His research focuses on the resilience and governance of coupled systems (e.g., engineered–social, socio–hydrological, or social-ecological) in which some natural or human-made commons are shared by many and managed through collective choice.

Samuel A. Markolf

SAMUEL A. MARKOLF is an Assistant Research Professor in the Department of Civil, Environmental, and Sustainable Engineering at Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85281. E-mail: [email protected]. His research broadly focuses on urban and infrastructure systems, with an emphasis on analyzing the extent to which interconnected SETS can enhance (or hinder) resilience.

Chang-yu Hong

CHANG-YU HONG is a Research Fellow at the Jeju Research Institute, Jeju, 02115, Korea. E-mail: [email protected]. His area of concentration is sustainability, socio-hydrology, and environmental planning, with a focus on issues of stakeholder governance and conflict resolution.

Sunyong Eom

SUNYONG EOM is a Project Researcher in the Center for Spatial Information Science at the University of Tokyo, Kashiwa-shi 277-8568, Chiba, Japan. E-mail: [email protected]. His research interest covers spatial information science, land use planning, and transportation modeling for sustainable and resilient urban structure.

Wonsuh Song

WONSUH SONG is a part-time Lecturer in the School of Education, Waseda University, Shinjuku-ku 169-8050, Tokyo, Japan. E-mail: [email protected]. She has been researching weathering of rocks by microorganisms but recently expanded the scope of her research to environmental effects caused by water, such as flood, drought, and wildfires.

Deghyo Bae

DEGHYO BAE is a Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and president of Sejong University, Gwangjin-gu 05006, Seoul, South Korea. E-mail: [email protected]. His research areas include atmosphere and surface runoff interactions, flood forecasting, satellite hydrology, and GIS-based water resource engineering.