At Nijmegen, the Waal River bends sharply and narrows. This creates a bottleneck, which often caused flooding of the historic city centre of Nijmegen, located on the south bank of the Wall. After the floods of 1993 and 1995 and faced with increased risk of flooding due to climate change, the city of Nijmegen decided to give more room to the Waal River, at the same time protecting nearby natural habitats and providing recreational space.
Titchwell Marsh lies towards the western end of the North Norfolk coast in UK. It forms a key part of the North Norfolk Coast Special Protection Area (SPA) and Special Area of Conservation (SAC). The freshwater and brackish habitats at Titchwell are protected by seawalls. However, these walls would have been in danger of not being able to withstand the next few years due to coastal erosion and rising sea levels.
This case study describes the flood risk management plan and the related restoration of a formerly canalized eight kilometres stretch of the Isar river in the city of Munich (the so called “Isar Plan”). Still in the beginning of the 19th century, the Isar was a typical wild alpine river with wide gravel islands and sandbanks and a constantly changing riverbed. In the middle of the 19th century after repeated flooding suffered by the Lehel, Au and Thal districts in Munich, hydraulic regulation began, and the riverbed was canalized.
Hesketh Out Marsh is the biggest managed realignment project in the UK, and is one of the country’s most important estuary habitats for birdlife. The original saltmarsh was isolated from the estuary in 1980 by the creation of an outer wall, and was used for growing crops. With the sea level rising, it was necessary to create stronger sea defences. By a process known as “managed realignment”, seawater has been let back in to flood the land, re-creating saltmarsh and providing space for nature.
Stuttgart’s location in a valley basin, its mild climate, low wind speeds, industrial activity and high volume of traffic has made it susceptible to poor air quality. Development on the valley slopes has prevented air from moving through the city, which worsens the air quality and contributes to the urban heat island effect. A Climate Atlas was developed for the Stuttgart region, presenting the distribution of temperature and cold air flows according to the city’s topography and land use.
Over a century ago a sparsely populated landscape of water meadows was transformed into an industrial conurbation, and the untamed river Emscher, in the Ruhr area, turned into a man-made system of open waste waterways. Due to subsidence caused by mining, it was impossible to build an underground sewer system. Therefore, the Emscher and its tributaries were regulated and used to transport the wastewater together with rainwater on the surface. This made the Emscher simply a great open wastewater channel.
Klaipėda is a coastal city with almost all of its territory located on coastal lowland, and the Smeltalė river situated in the Southern part of the city, falling into the Curonian Lagoon within the city area. Regular floodings of the southern city areas due to flash floods in the Smeltalė River and Baltic Sea level fluctuations are the main problem of the Klaipėda city case study area.
The City of Växjö is situated in the southern part of Sweden, surrounded by forests and lakes. As many parts of the central city of Växjö were built upon wet and swampy areas they are vulnerable to floods after heavy rainfall events. One of the most affected parts is the street Linnégatan which is built on a previously existing small stream and which is situated much lower than the surrounding built areas. In past years, rainwater often flooded the street and the nearby buildings’ basements and cellars.
The agriculture sector in Montpellier is highly vulnerable to higher temperature and more frequent droughts associated with projected climate change. To prepare for the effects of climate change it is important that agriculture in Montpellier takes appropriate adaptation measures. The agricultural systems based on monoculture are deemed to be more vulnerable compared to alternatives such as the cultivation of a mixture of crops and species, especially a mixture of trees and crops as in agroforestry.
Dorset is a county in South West England on the English Channel Coast. The Dorset heathlands cover an extensive area of South East Dorset, fragmented by urban development and other land uses. These heathlands once covered over 50,000 hectares, stretching as far as Dorchester and Poole. Changes in agricultural practice, conifer planting, scrub encroachment, urban expansion and road building have all contributed to a reduction in area. Dorset's fragmented heaths measure approximately 5,700 hectares today. Heathlands are an important habitat and are protected by European-level designations.