Along with windstorms, floods are the most common and widespread of all natural disasters. Although they can often be predicted, they cause loss of life, damage and destruction, as many urban communities are located near coasts and rivers. In terms of victims, floods are responsible for more than half the deaths caused by natural catastrophes. As flood events appear to be rapidly increasing world-wide, an advanced and universal approach to urban flooding and how to manage will help reduce flood impact.

This textbook integrates expertise from disciplines such as hydrology, sociology, architecture, urban design, construction and water resources engineering. The subject is approached from an international perspective and case studies, exercises, expert advice and literature recommendations are included to support the theory and illustrations.

Developed by a team of specialists, this volume is intended for urban flood management education of hydrology, geography, civil and environmental engineering, and management students at university level. Moreover, professionals will find this book useful as a reference. More information on flood resilience and urban flood management can be found at www.floodresiliencegroup.org

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About the Author:

Chris Zevenbergen is Professor of Flood Resilience of Urban Sytems at UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education in Delft, Director of the Flood Resilient Group in collaboration with Delft University of Technology and Managing Director of Business Development at DuraVermeer Group, The Netherlands. Dr. Zevebergen has Masters degree in Ecology from the Agricultural University Wageningen and a Doctorate in Environmental Engineering from the University Utrecht. He worked as a researcher on various environmental issues related to the building industry, such as environmental impact assessments, product development, emission modelling, testing procedures, building codes and guidelines in the 1980s followed by 10 years research and consultancy in environmental engineering and water management. He has a strong affinity with the ecological, socio-economic, institutional aspects of urban planning and water management. He is member of the board of the Dutch Living with Water programme and the Netherlands Water Partnership, member of the Japanese-Dutch platform on Water Management and chairman of the EU COST action C22 on Urban Flood Management. He holds several patents in the field of environmental engineering and delta-technology. On these research topics he has published about 40 articles and edited 3 books.