Few countries exist where humans have exerted a greater influence in shaping the landscape than the Netherlands. Located in the lowland delta of three major rivers, this small European country has fought for more than a thousand years to protect its inhabitants from floods and to reclaim flooded land. Designed for Dry Feet explores Holland's unique challenges in water control and management. Hoeksema begins by discussing the history of flood protection and land reclamation as well as the history of water management organizations. He then focuses on specific activities and projects, such as simple dwelling mounds, 17th-century windmill-powered lake draining systems, 19th-century steam-powered drainage activities, and 20th-century land reclamation and flood protection projects. Hoeksema also includes information about travel in the Netherlands, which he organizes into six excursions designed for those visiting this magnificent country. This book will certainly be a great asset to civil engineers from all over the world, as the technology from one country's battle with flood protection is borrowed to rebuild others.

This book deals with the introduction of a new type of “spatial measures" in flood governance. In contrast to traditional “safety measures" that aim to provide protection against floods by building structural flood defenses such as levees and flood walls, the goal of spatial measures is to reduce the exposure to flood risks by changing the spatial layout of flood-prone areas. By limiting developments and flood-proofing buildings in areas at risk to flooding, investments in structural flood defenses can be circumvented and vulnerabilities reduce. World-wide, spatial measures are gaining attractiveness as a response strategy to increasing flood risks caused by climate change and urbanization. The introduction of spatial measures in flood governance involves more than the simple development of new policies and laws. Research has demonstrated that the implementation of spatial measures can have huge implications for how costs and responsibilities are divided between different levels of governance and between public and private actors, changing the whole organization behind flood governance. Both for the effectiveness and for the legitimacy of spatial flood governance strategies, it is important that these distributive implications are well understood. This book describes the introduction of spatial measures in the context of two very different delta countries: the Netherlands and the United States. In the United States, a spatial flood governance strategy was already developed in de mid-20th century whereas in the Netherlands, a safety paradigm institutionalized over the course of the 20th century and spatial measures have only recently been introduced. By analyzing the science-policy interactions underlying the implementation of spatial measures in both countries, this book shows how under the influence of different types of experts (engineers in the Netherlands and social geographers in the United States) different spatial flood management strategies emerged with different distributive implications, each with its own challenges for effectiveness and legitimacy.

This book presents a geographical survey of the Netherlands, reviewing recent and historic developments that made the nation. It is a relatively wealthy country and the Dutch belong to the happiest and healthiest on earth. But these qualities are not evenly spread over the country. The urban agglomeration of Randstad Holland in the west hosts most of the nation’s capital and young, well-educated people whereas older and less-educated people are concentrated in the peripheral areas in the north, east and south. Interactions between physical and human geographical aspects of the Netherlands are described quite extensively. Its position on one of Europe’s most prominent deltas, its abundance of energy resources and the course of history have all contributed to its present national position and international networks. But early and recent Dutch have also shaped this country. They reclaimed lakes and shallow seas, protected the lowlands against floods, re-allotted land parcels and designed and developed urban areas. Besides its focus on water-related topics, the book also covers social and cultural aspects. The book also discusses future challenges and offers scenarios for solutions. This is a book for those interested in a wide variety of recent aspects of the geography of the Netherlands described in a historical context. It appeals to students and researchers of many disciplines in geography, urban and landscape planning, water management, history and cultural studies.

This book addresses the development of advanced methods for the prediction, the estimation of occurrence probabilities and the risk related to extreme hydrological events. It also discusses the reduction of the vulnerability of social, economic, and engineering systems to extreme hydrologic events and the decrease of their effects on such systems.

Flooding is widely recognized as a global threat, due to the extent and magnitude of damage it causes around the world each year. Reducing flood risk and improving flood resilience are two closely related aspects of flood management. This book presents the latest advances in flood risk and resilience management on the following themes: hazard and risk analysis, flood behaviour analysis, assessment frameworks and metrics and intervention strategies. It can help the reader to understand the current challenges in flood management and the development of sustainable flood management interventions to reduce the social, economic and environmental consequences from flooding.

As a low-lying delta region with a high population density, the Netherlands has long focused on the prevention of flooding catastrophes and the reclamation of valuable land. The evolution of Dutch water governance, beginning with the creation of local 'water boards' in the Middle Ages and growing into a complex infrastructure of polders, dams, and controlled waterways offers a compelling study of pitfalls and successes within one of the worlds most challenging regions for water management. Water Policy in the Netherlands traces the arc of water governance in the country, from technological innovations to prevent wide-scale flooding, to strategies focused primarily on improving water quality, to an integral water management approach which brings together perspectives from economics, hydrology, ecology, water law, and water technology. The contributions in this book demonstrate how both the technical and social sciences must play key roles in crafting policy in the face of serious environmental challenges including climate change, sea level rise, and increasing soil subsidence. Innovative themes explored in the work include: how economic models and pricing structures might improve efficiency in the distribution of water resources, how the competing uses for water-including for recreation, arable agriculture, fisheries, and natural preservation-create demands on both the quantity and quality of water resources, and how public participation, cogovernance, and the balance of public and private interests will be necessary to meet the goals of the EUs Water Framework Directive. This resource serves as both an invaluable case study and as a text to develop the analytical tool of integral water management for students, policy-makers, and NGO professionals in developed and developing regions.