The Netherlands is world famous when it comes to coastal defence. The world is always changing, therefore the Netherlands, together with many countries, has to adapt constantly to the climate. This constant change means that in particular the coastline of the Netherlands requires extra attention because of the uncertainty of sea level rise. The Dutch coastline is protected by means of a static approach. However the intention for the future is to apply an adaptable design to better handle sea level rise. This report focuses on a method that uses a dynamic approach with the aim of keeping the Netherlands protected against rising sea levels that are uncertain. This dynamic approach consist of several pathways that each consist of different actions. With the help of evaluation-criteria, the pathways in the dynamic approach are evaluated. The outcome of this evaluation is described and recommendations for future research are given.

The report focuses on keeping the coastline of the south-west of the Netherlands protected against the uncertainty of the rising sea. This will be done with the help of a dynamic approach. First, an area analysis was carried out to find out what aspects should be given the most attention. After that, the method of DAPP is used to function as a dynamic approach. This Dynamic Adaptive Pathway Policy is then used to implement the different pathways in a structured way. These pathways are made up of different actions. These actions are existing plans presented by Deltares and they form a big list. Not all plans do function properly in order to function as a flood protection and so a selection method is used to extract the right plans out of this list. The requirements that are used to select the right plans have its main focus on protecting the hinterland against sea level rise, storm surge and wave load. The extracted plans that function as an action are implemented in the different pathways of the DAPP. To evaluate these pathways, evaluation-criteria are used in a Multi Criteria Analysis. These criteria are extracted from sources like a stakeholder analysis, old and new watermasters and a brainstorm session with the group members who act through their own accumulated expertise. The extracted criteria in combination with determined weighting factors are placed in a Multi Criteria Analysis after which the pathways have been assessed individually. This evaluation process led to some pathways being iterated to a different shape for the final design of the DAPP.

From the project can be concluded that the DAPP approach works well to combine different static plans into a comprehensive mitigation strategy. Secondly the evaluation criteria can be successfully derived from the old and new watermasters. The old watermasters already have one or more of their plans implemented. The new watermasters, are working on flood protection plans for the future in their daily life and have a lot of experience in the current engineering field. From the stakeholder analyses, the criteria can also be derived but than from the perspective of a variety of stakeholders. Thirdly, organizing criteria using a PESTLE (Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Environmental) and objectives tree has significant benefits for determining weighting factors. At last, it can be concluded that the main requirements used in this project are a good starting point, but they are only focused on reducing the flood risk (only technology). To select plans on a wider perspective(also Political, Economic, Social, Legal and Environmental), it is recommended to take a closer look to requirements from that perspectives. Advised is to consult experts in those fields to help with that.

To encourage climateadaptive building in the Netherlands the Covenant ClimateAdaptive Building (CKAB) was developed by a consortium of stakeholders (Convenant klimaatadaptief bouwen in ZuidHolland, 2018). This nonbinding agreement proposed standards for six (climate) aspects in order to adapt the Netherlands to a changing climate. These standards were first applied in pilots in Haarlemmermeer, Utrecht, Rotterdam (Vlot et al., 2021) and in Dordrecht, where the new residential area of Amstelwijck was planned. Implementing climateadaptive measures ánd standards is yet an innovative process and iterative learning is required to improve this process. We want to know what role standards played in selecting climateadaptive measures in Dordrecht and what result they achieved. This study focused on three climate aspects specifically: heat stress, pluvial flooding and droughts. The case study in Dordrecht was evaluated by means of a stateoftheart hydrological model, UrbanWB. Urban plans of Amstelwijck provided the basis to research applicability of this model as a design and assessment tool (i). The goal of this method was to improve the integral understanding of the complexity and interrelations of a (hydrological) system for designers and policymakers, which would allow them to make better choices. Additionally, this same model was used to assess uncertainty in design, engineering and climate (ii). A quantification was made for the relative relevance of design choices, such as decreasing paved surfaces, local conditions, such as soil type or drainage velocities, and climate change, with increased evaporation, precipitation and extremes. Additionally, CKAB standards and the process of applying them in Amstelwijck was researched (iii). Two groups of stakeholders, goal oriented (Municipality of Dordrecht, WSHD & hired staff) and user oriented (project developers & hired staff), were identified and these groups were interviewed with the goal of learning what kind of standards encourage climate adaptation and finding where barriers or enablers exist. This was done with the help of the concept of user centred design (Long et al., 2016), inspiring the stakeholder groups and a division into standards focused on goals or means, and the concepts of principle/rulebased approach (Nakpodia et al., 2016) and creative freedom/specification (Frei and Di Marzo Serugendo, 2011). With this research it could be concluded that UrbanWB can help designers by providing arguments for design choices, which was mentioned as an enabler in interviews. The model touched on interconnectivity between different climate aspects and five model indicators were identified to compare the performance of different plans. For assessment purposes no major improvements were made yet compared to models commonly employed, except that this method offers potential for a tool, which is easytoadopt. By verification with other models this should become more clear. The model architecture was found to be less suitable for assessing urban plans on heat stress and to a lesser extent drought, but proved valuable for pluvial flooding. On uncertainty three important notions were made: climate change is a significant uncertainty; local conditions are decisive for the ’robustness’, ability to perform under different conditions, of an urban system; design choices can have large effects on the hydrology of the system, some are effective enough to deal with climate change. The type of soil was found to be a decisive factor for every climate aspect. It is reaffirmed in interviews and focus groups that local conditions could be listed as a possible theme in the process of climate adaptation. In working with CKAB standards for the first two parts of this research ideas about the way of description, direction and commitment of standards were already formed, but the interview analysis affirmed and strengthened this view. Ideal standards should be specific, focused on goals and rulebased, but principles are leading and exceptions should be allowed to ensure creative freedom, which is important in an innovative process. Designers, policy makers and engineers could apply the methodology used in this study to promote climate adaptation and deal with the uncertainty brought by climate change. The results of this research emphasized the importance of integral thinking in design and lawmaking, since this provides more insight and argumentation for selecting climateadaptive measures A perception that standards should be focused on goals instead of means is crucial to directing urban developments.