Development of a common conceptual framework for the adaptation of coastal flood protection systems

Figures & data

Figure 1. Components of a protection system and identification of the applicable resilience concepts (color bar).

Figure 2. Asset performance tool propeller (Environment Agency, 2011).

Figure 3. Proposed new conceptual framework, representing a protection system in relation to other infrastructure networks within a territory and identifying resilience concepts used for different systems (color bar).

Figure 4. The adaptive cycle (from Panarchy, edited by Lance H. Gunderson and C.S. Holling: Figures 2–1 (page 34). Copyright © 2002 island press. Reproduced by permission of island press, Washington, DC).

Figure 5. Panarchy of nested adaptive cycles (from panarchy, edited by Lance H. Gunderson and C.S. Holling: Figure 3-10 (page 75). Copyright © 2002 island press. Reproduced by permission of island press, Washington, DC).

Figure 6. Life cycle of a protection structure (CIRIA et al., 2013).

Figure 7. Cycle of flood management. Credit: Conitz, Zingraff-Hamed, Lupp, et al. (2021) inspired by Thieken (2004). Reproduced with permission from Annegret Thieken.

Figure 8. The seven principles for managing the resilience of an SES (Biggs, Schlüter, Biggs, et al., 2012).

Table 1. Identification of key coastal flood protection issues and the main associated resilience regimes.

Principles for managing the resilience of an SES	Issues associated with coastal flood protection	Main resilience regime to consider
Diversity	Composition of the protection system and spatial planning: reducing hazard exposure by controlling urbanization, in particular in low-lying areas, and using nature-based solutions to reduce the vulnerability of critical infrastructure and buildings can also foster diversity.	Social-ecological resilience
Redundancy	Composition of the protection system and spatial planning: coastal flood protection systems may include multiple lines of defense. Between these lines, as well as on the sea or land side, natural or landscaped buffer zones can be important and sustainable measures against marine-weather events.	Engineering resilience
Connectivity	Flow management: The control of water circulation and the preservation of exchanges of all kinds (including humans and other living species, materials, energy, and information) are essential, in particular in the urban environment.	Ecological resilience or social-ecological resilience
Slow variables and feedbacks	Understanding the evolution of SESs: Parameters such as the rate of soil sealing, relative sea level rise, and sediment transport should be monitored at the scale of a structure (e.g., levee) or an area (e.g., delta).	By default, social-ecological resilience
Learning and experimentation, Participation, Understanding SES as CAS, Polycentricity	SES management: Governance can be improved by applying the principles of adaptive co-management and polycentricity at the level of the protection system and the associated area	Social resilience (or social-ecological resilience)

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Data availability statement

The authors confirm that the data supporting the findings of this study are available within the article.