Policies

Relevant city context

This case study is relevant to cities seeking holistic solutions to future problems, in this case combining preventative measures for flooding with attractive urban design. Vejle is a town in Denmark of approximately 55000 inhabitants, and about 110000 inhabitants live throughout the municipality. The town of Vejle is a low-lying harbor town lying in a valley, and main resilience challenges therefore include rising sea levels and extreme rainfall.

Goal: Decrease risk of flooding and improve the urban environment

A main objective of the project has been to make the city of Vejle more resistant to extreme events, such as flooding. When the seawater is pressed up in the rivers and / or when it rains heavily, the sluice and pump system can lower the water level in the stream and help reduce the flooding along the river. The sluice keeps the seawater out and pumps transfer water from one stream into another when the sluice is closed. The sluice and pumping mill is also an exciting urban space, which adds something extra to the city and the public. A holistic approach was required to combine law requirements, technical solutions, and the concept of developing urban spaces with other factors (flora, fauna etc.).  

Cooperation among stakeholders

The building of the lock is a cooperation between Vejle Municipality and Vejle Spildevand A/S, a company providing waste- and rainwater treatment. The project was expected to prevent flooding and transform the city by establishing a new urban space. Integration the requirements of the technical design of the lock and ensuring the development of an attractive urban space was done by initially putting a lot of resources into the overall plan. Once this was settled more focus was put on the performance of the lock. However, there has been a parallelism between the different perspectives throughout the project. The lock is designed in a way that it is easy to understand the different functions it has and is also a symbol of the joint efforts between the Municipality and Vejle Spildevand, and how they have worked together work to secure the city.  

Outcomes  

First and foremost, the decrease of flooding since the lock was take into use has saved the Municipality as well as Vejle Spildevand A/S a lot of money (the project paid for itself already after a few months). Further, the citizens of Vejle have been provided an attractive area to relax in. The lock allows citizens to stay aware of the threat of flooding in Vejle city, and is designed in a way that offers people an understanding for the construction and function of the lock.

Resources

The project has been co-financed by Vejle Spildevand A / S (private company), Vejle Municipality and the Danish Government.

Relevant city context

It is useful for cities who are working on developing a common understanding of dependencies and collaborative needs between city stakeholders. The workshop methodology can be used at a “Starting” stage, as well as more advanced stages.

Goal

This case study supports the following policies:

P2S3: Develop a common understanding of the resilience approach among stakeholders with the goal of

(L3M1) Promoting a culture of resilience

L1A1: Align, integrate and connect the city resilience plan with national resilience management guidelines with the goal of increasing abilities to better respond and adapt to economic, social, and physical challenges

P1A1: Assess and prioritise risk scenarios and their implications through consideration of risk systemicity (eg using Risk Systemicity Questionnaire) with the goal of developing risk mitigation strategies for highest priority risks at city/regional level

Until 2011 emergency preparedness was based on the principles of liability, conformity, decentralization, which means that the participating entities are expected to be responsible for and perform tasks during a crisis that fall under their responsibility during normal operation. In 2011, following the terror attack on 22 July, a decision was made by the minister of justice and public security to extend these principles to include cooperation.

The implementation of the policy was done through a series of workshops and activities to engage stakeholders in discussions of cooperation and identification of interdependencies of risks. A combination of different methods and tools where used during the workshops, such as, table top exercises, the Risk Systemicity Questionnaire (RSQ) and simulated stress-tests. For example, a stress test of a regional power supply company was performed using the “Long-Term Power Rationing”- scenario to identify direct and cascading effects of long term power outages in the municipality. Key stakeholders and representatives from different services in the municipality took part the evaluation of the effects. In addition, a large-scale exercise was carried out in 2017 with the power outage scenario. The exercise included the power supply company and the crisis management board in the municipality.

Outcomes  

The workshops were believed to be very successful in building an understanding for interdependencies between services, potential vulnerabilities and possibilities to cooperate. These initial workshops have further set an example for future workshops in other infrastructure areas, such as water providers and telecom infrastructure. An additional result based on the outcome of the stress-test and exercise was an action plan to increase redundancy in areas found to be more vulnerable, including for example back-up generators at homes for the elderly. A challenge identified is that not all companies are willing to disclose their vulnerabilities, and forums for discussion and long-term cooperation are essential to build the necessary confidence.

Resources

In connection to implementation of the new principle the municipalities crisis management expanded, including a full-time position in the team. The newly appointed crisis manager coordinated the workshops and activities and costs were split between stakeholders depending on the activity. The stress-test exercise was financed by the power supply company and the cost for the large-scale exercise was divided between the involved stakeholders.

Links

Emergency preparedness principles (In Norwegian)

Information on stakeholder role and responsibility 

Description of stakeholder annual meetings 

Risk Systemcity Questionnaire