FReCom: Flood risk management and resilience building at community level in rapidly growing cities in China and Germany
- Overview
- The FreCom project is set to organize a networking workshop titled "Risk Management and Resilience Building for Sustainable Development" on September 24-25, 2024, in Beijing. The project addresses the increasing frequency and intensity of urban flooding, challenging current planning and risk reduction regimes in Germany, China, and globally. As cities continue to expand and densify amid climate change, forward-looking resilience building becomes increasingly urgent.
- Key Themes
- The FreCom project addresses the critical challenges posed by increasing urban flooding and climate change, particularly as cities expand and densify. It identifies significant knowledge gaps, such as the lack of tools for assessing future socio-economic exposure and vulnerability at the sub-city level and the limited scientific knowledge on practical resilience solutions at the local community scale. To tackle these issues, FreCom aims to develop a joint conceptual framework for urban risk assessment and resilience evaluation, conduct feasibility workshops, publish key scientific papers, and create a large-scale research grant proposal. This collaboration will also include joint supervision of PhD studies to foster long-term cooperation and advancement in urban resilience science.
- Research Approach
- The project aims to bridge knowledge gaps through collaboration between leading groups in urban resilience science. A series of joint meetings and researcher exchanges will facilitate this cooperation. Key activities include developing a unified methodological approach, evaluating the research agenda with stakeholders in both Germany and China, and publishing influential scientific papers. Additionally, the project will work on a research grant proposal and supervise ongoing PhD studies. The kickoff meeting, held on February 10, 2021, laid a strong foundation for this collaboration, with extensive discussions on research areas, methodologies, and joint activities. This meeting promoted mutual understanding and clarified specific tasks, ensuring smooth and efficient project implementation.