Resilience Planning and Design of Urban Rivers in the Face of Flood Disturbances (A Case Study: The Resilience Planning of the River Darakeh)

Document Type : Original Research Article

Authors

1 M.A. in Landscape Architecture, College of Fine Arts, University of Tehran, Iran.

2 Landscape Architecture Department, School of Architecture, College of Fine Arts, University of Tehran,, Iran.

Abstract

In recent decades, resilience planning has been received significant attention by experts from most of the fields, especially landscape architects, in the face of flood and drought disturbances. The River Darakeh, as one of the urban rivers located in Tehran, is highly vulnerable to flood disturbance and its consequences despite the construction of flood-control infrastructures—channels and terraces on the riverbeds. This issue reveals the insufficiency of such plans in controlling the flood. Thus, it is necessary to plan and design the River Darakeh in order to reduce the risk of floods and increase the sustainability of the river. In this regard, this study seeks to fine an alternative approach instead of channels against the environmental problems and consequences of the floods of the River Darakeh. Therefore, this paper endeavors to find answers of the questions: is the new approach to resilience a viable alternative to one-dimensional and engineering approaches to the management of rivers? In order word, how can this approach transform the turbulent environment of the River Darakeh into a sustainable and environmentally and flood-friendly environment? Accordingly, this study employs the descriptive-analytical approach as well as a brief review of the related literature in order to gather various resilience indices. Then, design strategies based on the definitions of indices are extracted, and design solutions for the River Darakeh, as a case study, are presented in the face of flood disturbances. This study relies upon seven indices of resilience thinking—namely, redundancy, diversity, strength, connection, learning, self-organization, and variability—to present several strategies; including environmental and spatial diversity, high-level knowledge, the capacities and skills of indigenous people, the application of past generation’s experiences regarding past floods, strength of natural and human-made components, strength of the spatial relations and coherence of design components, and self-organization of social and ecological resources; for designing the River Darakeh to withstand against flood turbulences. This design and planning initiative includes different social and environmental dimensions which can be considered as alternative solutions for the flood control channels and the terracing on the riverbeds. The finding of this paper can be applied as a pattern for chaotic urban rivers in Iran and throughout the world in similar circumstances.
 

Keywords

References

Ahern, J. (2011). From fail-safe to safe-to-fail: Sustainability and resilience in the new urban world. Landscape and Urban Planning, 100(4), 341-43.
Ahern, J. (2011). Urban landscape sustainability and resilience: The promise and challenges of integrating ecology with urban planning and design. Landscape Ecology, 28(6), 3-12.
Alberti, M. & Marzluff, J. M. (2004). Ecological resilience in urban ecosystems: Linking urban patterns to human and ecological functions. Urban Ecosystems, 7(3), 241–265.
Alehashemi, A., Bagheri, Y. & Akhavan, E. (2015). Imposed or Natural Identity? Javanmardan Park, Landscaping in Kan Valley. MANZAR, 7(31), 94-103.
Aslani, F. & Mehdipour, H. (2015). Modiriat-e bohran dar kahesh-e khatarpaziri dar barabar-e zelzeleh, Mored-e motale’ati shahr-e Tehran [Crisis Management in Earthquake Risk Reduction Case Study: Tehran]. 2nd International Congress of Structures, Architecture and Urban Development, Tabriz, Iran.
Allan, P. & Bryant, M. (2011). Resilience as a framework for urbanism and recovery. Journal of Landscape Architecture, 6(2), 34-45.
Anderies, J. M., Walker, B. H. & Kinzig, A. P. (2006). Fifteen weddings and a funeral: case studies and resilience-based management. Ecology and Society, 11(1), 21.
Antrobus, D. (2011). Smart green cities: from modernization to resilience?. Urban Research & Practice, 4(2), 207-214.
Bahadur, A. V., Ibrahim, M. & Tanner, T. (2010). The resilience renaissance? Unpacking of resilience for tackling climate change and disasters. Strengthening Climate Resilience Discussion Paper 1, Brighton: Institute of Development Studies.
Bahadur, A. V., Ibrahim, M. & Tanner, T. (2013). Characterising resilience: unpacking the concept for tackling climate change and development. Climate and Development, 5(1), 55-65.
Bahrami, F. & Hemmati, M. (2020). Landscape Resilience, an Examination and Evaluation of Existing Definitions in the Field of Landscape Resilience, a Brief Review of Literature. MANZAR, 12(50), 40-49.
Bahrami, F. (2018). Darakeh Valley as the Iranian Sharbagh. MANZAR, 10(43), 34-41.
Bahrami, F., Alehashemi, A. & Motedayen, H. (2019). Urban rivers and resilience thinking in the face of flood disturbance, the resilience planning of the Kan River. MANZAR, 11(47), 60-73.
Bell, S. (2012). Landscape: Pattern, Perception and Process. 2nd edition, London: Routledge.
Bentley, I., Alcock, A., Murrain, P., McGlynn, S. & Smith, G. (2010). Responsive environments; A Manual for Designers (M. Behzadfar Trans.). Fifth Edition. Tehran: University of Science and Technology.
Berkes, F., Colding, J. & Folke, C. (2003). Navigating social–ecological systems: building resilience for complexity and change. UK: Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Berkes, F. (2007). Understanding uncertainty and reducing vulnerability: lessons from resilience thinking. Natural Hazards, 41(2), 283-295.
Borna.News Agency. (2020). Tehran, mahal-e vogho’e yeki az 12 seyl-e virangar-e Iran [Tehran, the site of one of the 12 devastating floods in Iran]. Retrieved May 16, 2020, from: https://www.borna.news/.
Bruneau, M., Chang, R., Eguchi, G., Lee, T., O’Rourke, A. & Reinhorn, M. . . . Winterfeldt, W. A. (2003). A framework to quantitatively assess and enhance the seismic resilience of communities. Earthquake Spectra, 19(4), 733-52.
Carpenter, S. R. & Gunderson, L. H. (2001). Coping with collapse: Ecological and social dynamics in ecosystem management like flight simulators that train would-be aviators, simple models can be used to evoke people’s adaptive, forward-thinking behavior, aimed in this instance at sustainability of human–natural systems. BioScience, 51(6), 451-457.
Chelleri, L. & Olazabal, M. (2012). Multidisciplinary Perspectives on Urban Resilience. Spain: Basque Centerfor Climate Change.
Davoudi, S. & Strange, I. (2009). Space and Place in Twentieth Century Planning. In: S. Davoudi & I. Strange (eds.), Conceptions of Space and Place in Strategic Spatial Planning. London: Routledge.
Dovers, S. R., & Handmer, J. W. (1992). Uncertainty, sustainability and change. Global Environmental Change, 2(4), 262-276.
Eraydin, A. & Tasan-Kok, T. (2013). The Evaluation of Findings and Future of Resilience Thinking in Planning. In: A. Eraydin (ed.), Resilience Thinking in Urban Planning (pp. 229-239). Dordrecht: Springer.
Eskan News. (2020). T’atili-ye majmo’e-ye Sa’addabad va restoran-ha-ye Darband va Darakeh be dalil-e ehtemal-e vogho’e seyl [Closure of Saadabad complex and restaurants in Darband and Darakeh due to the possibility of floods]. Retrieved December 19, 2020, from: https://www.eskannews.com//news/18302/.
Feliciotti, A. Romice, O. & Porta, S. (2016). Design for change: five proxies for resilience in the urban form. Open House International, 41(4), 23-30.
Folke, C. (2006). Resilience: The emergence of a perspective for social–ecological systems analyses. Global Environmental Change, 16(3), 253-267.
Folke, C., Carpenter, S. R., Walker, B., Scheffer, M., Chapin, T. & Rockström, J. (2010). Resilience thinking: integrating resilience, adaptability and transformability. Ecology and Society, 15(4), 20-28.
Folke, C. (2016). Resilience (republished). Ecology and Society, 21(4), 44.
Ghanavati, E., Saffari, A., Karam, A., Najafi, E. & Jahandar, Gh. (2017). Investigation on Hydrogeomorphologic Characteristics of Tehran Metroplis Watersheds with Emphasis on the Flood Prone Zones. Hydrogeomorphology, 3(6), 33-54.
Gharai, F., Masnavi, M. R. & Hajibandeh, M. (2018). Urban local-spatial resilience: Developing the key indicators and measures, a brief review of literature. Bagh-E Nazar, 14(57), 19-32.
Godschalk, D. R. (2003). Urban hazard mitigation: Creating resilient cities. Natural Hazards Review, 4(3), 136-143.
Gunderson, L. H. & Holling, C. S. (2002). Panarchy: Understanding Transformations in Human and Natural Systems. Washington D.C.: Island Press.
Hassler, U. & Kohler, N. (2014). Resilience in the built environment. Building Research and Information, 24(2), 119-129.
Holling, C. S. (2001). Understanding the complexity of economic, ecological, and social systems. Ecosystems, 4(5), 390-405.
Kirmayer, L. J., Dandeneau, S., Marshall, E., Phillips, M. K., & Williamson, K. J. (2012). Toward an ecology of stories: Indigenous perspectives on resilience. In M. Angar (ed.), The Social Ecology of Resilience (pp. 399-414). New York: Springer.
Klein, R. J., Nicholls, R. J. & Thomalla, F. (2003). Resilience to natural hazards: How useful is this concept?. Global environmental change part B: Environmental Hazards, 5(1), 35-45.
Hemmati, M. (2015). Resilience: A Design Approach in Chaotic Environment. MANZAR, 7(32), 74-81.
Jacobs, J. (2007). Death and Life of Big American Cities (H. Parsi & A. Aflatouni Trans.). Tehran: University of Tehran.
Karimi Moshaver, M. (2013). River Valleys Potentials in City Development. MANZAR, 5(22), 52-55.
Liao, K. H. (2012). A theory on urban resilience to floods—A basis for alternative planning practices. Ecology and Society, 17(4), 48.
Linnenluecke, M. & Griffiths, A. (2010). Beyond adaptation: resilience for business in light of climate change and weather extremes. Business & Society, 49(3), 477-511.
Lu, P. & Stead, D. (2013). Understanding the notion of resilience in spatial planning: A case studyof Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Cities, (35), 200-212.
Macrae, C. (2010). Regulating resilience? Regulatory work in high-risk arenas. In: Hutter B (ed.), Anticipating Risks and Organizing Risk Regulation (pp. 139–160). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Manyena, S. B. (2006). The concept of resilience revisited. Disasters, 30(4), 434-450.
Marcus, L. & Colding, J. (2014). Toward an integrated theory of spatial morphology and resilient urban systems. Ecology and Society, 19(4), 55-67.
Masnavi, M. R., Gharai, F. & Hajibandeh, M. (2018). Exploring urban resilience thinking for its application in urban planning: a review of literature. International Journal of Environmental Science and Technology, (16), 527-582.
Mayunga, J. S. (2007). Understanding and applying the concept of community disaster resilience: a capital-based approach. Summer academy for social vulnerability and resilience building, 1(1), 1-16.
Meerow, S. & Stults, M. (2016). Comparing conceptualizations of urban climate resilience in theory and practice. Sustainability, (8), 2-16.
Müller, B. (2011). Urban and Regional Resilience – A New Catchword or a Consistent Concept for Research and Practice? In: B. Müller (ed.), Urban and regional resilience: How do cities and regions deal with change? (pp 1–14). Berlin: Springer-Verlag.
Mwangi, E & Ostrom, E. (2009). A century of institutions and ecology in East Africa’s rangelands: Linking institutional robustness with the ecological resilience of Kenya’s Maasailand. In: Beckmann, V., Padmanabhan, M. (eds.), Institutions and Sustainability: Political Economy of Agriculture and the Environment (pp. 195–221). Dordrecht: Springer.
Rockefeller Foundation. (2009). Building Climate Change Resilience. Rockefeller Foundation White Paper.
Sharifi, A., & Yamagata, Y. (2016). Urban resilience assessment: multiple dimensions, criteria, and indicators. In: Y. Yamagata & H. Maruyama (Eds.), Urban Resilience, Advanced Sciences and Technologies for Security Applications. Switzerland: Springer International Publishing.
Sabokro, D. (2019). Landscape Design of Evin-River Darakeh with Ecological Approach. Unpublished Master’s Thesis, Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.
Suárez, M., Gómez-Baggethun, M., Benayas, J. & Tilbury, D. (2016). Towards an Urban Resilience Index: A Case Study in 50 Spanish Cities. Sustainability, 8(8), 1-19.
Twigg, J. (2007). Characteristics of a Disaster-Resilient Community: A Guidance Note. DFID Disaster Risk Reduction Interagency Coordination Group.
Tyler, S. & Moench, M. (2012). A framework for urban climate resilience. Climate and Development, 4(4), 311-326.
Walker, B. & Salt, D. (2006). Resilience Thinking: Sustaining Ecosystems and People in a Changing World. Washington D.C, USA: Island Press.
Walker, B., C. Holling, S. R., Stephen, R., Carpenter, A. & Kinzing, A. (2004). Resilience, adaptability and transformability in social–ecological systems. Ecology and Society, 9(2), 5.
Walker, B. H., Abel, N., Anderies, J. M. & Ryan, P. (2009). Resilience, adaptability, and transformability in the Goulburn-Broken Catchment, Australia. Ecology and Society, 14(1), 12-35.
Wardekker, J. A., de Jong, A., Knoop, J. M., & van der Sluijs, J. P. (2010). Operationalising a resilience approach to adapting an urban delta to uncertainclimate changes. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 77(6), 987–998.
Wilkinson, C. (2012). Social-ecological resilience: Insights and issues for planning theory. Planning Theory, 11(2), 148-169.
MANZAR, the Scientific Journal of landscape
Volume 13, Issue 55
June 2021
Pages 62-75

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics