This thesis investigates the potential of Nature-based Solutions (NbS) to address urban water management challenges in Paramaribo, Suriname. The city, characterized by intense rainfall and inadequate drainage infrastructure, frequently faces significant flooding, highlighting the urgent need for sustainable and resilient solutions. The research focuses on the applicability of NbS as an alternative to traditional grey infrastructure, particularly in the context of rapidly urbanizing tropical environments, where such solutions are still relatively unexplored.

Paramaribo faces a range of urban water management challenges, including high surface runoff and socio-economic impacts from frequent flooding. These issues are exacerbated by rapid urbanization, leading to extensive soil sealing that reduces the natural capacity for water infiltration. Against this backdrop, the thesis explores the potential of NbS as a promising but underutilized solution, particularly in tropical settings where existing literature on this topic is sparse. The study emphasizes that small-scale investigations, such as this one, can be critical in addressing the gap between theoretical research and practical implementation.

The literature review discusses various types of NbS, such as green roofs, bioswales, and permeable pavements, highlighting their potential benefits, including runoff reduction, water quality improvement, and biodiversity enhancement. However, in the context of Paramaribo, these co-benefits work differently.

The research focuses on a study area around Wakapasi in Paramaribo, using it as a small-scale case study to explore broader urban challenges. The selection of a smaller study area allows for detailed investigation, offering valuable insights into the effective implementation of NbS in similar contexts. The study acknowledges that while NbS holds promise, the challenges of ensuring their effectiveness in tropical environments must be critically examined.

Methodologically, the study employs a Multi-Criteria Analysis (MCA) to evaluate different NbS options based on effectiveness, cost, and social acceptability. Semi-structured interviews with local stakeholders and think-tank discussions emphasize the importance of local knowledge and institutional support, advocating for a bottom-up, participative approach to climate adaptation. The full-scale bioswale tests at AdeKUS provide empirical data, but the results are presented with critical nuance. While the bioswale tests did not show an emptying time of less than 24 hours, which is typically desirable to avoid standing water, the tests did not attract mosquitoes or pests. Additionally, the potential for preferential flow due to vegetation growth is noted, which could significantly increase infiltration rates over time, potentially by tenfold, once native vegetation fully establishes.

The results offer a mixed assessment of the potential for NbS in Paramaribo. On one hand, the bioswale tests demonstrate tangible measures that can be integrated into urban landscapes, providing proof of efficacy within a clearly defined context. The study also provides a clear description of the conditions under which NbS designs should be implemented based on the context of the region, offering practical guidance for future projects. However, the research also highlights the limitations and challenges, particularly in achieving rapid infiltration rates in combination with heavy rainfall and the uncertainties associated with long-term performance.

The study concludes by reflecting on the broader implications for urban water management in Paramaribo and similar tropical environments. The findings suggest that NbS could play a significant role in enhancing urban resilience, but their success depends on careful design, robust stakeholder engagement, and adaptive management strategies and the potential effects need to be researched further. The thesis emphasizes the potential for a bottom-up implementation strategy, where local involvement and incremental, evidence-based approaches guide the deployment of NbS. However, it also underscores the importance of remaining critical about the efficacy of these solutions, as the success of NbS is not guaranteed and must be rigorously tested and adapted to local conditions.

The political interest in fish habitat suitability and, consequently, of fish populations has increased. The fish habitat suitability is a key factor for successful ecological restoration, for example via dam removal and implementation of fish passage. Furthermore, the fish population composition determines the ecological quality of water bodies within the Water Framework Directive (WFD).

The aim of this thesis is to develop an ecological model for fish habitat suitability in the river Rotte basin in the Netherlands that can be used in policy development for ecological restoration. The model serves as a decision support system to explain differences in fish population and evaluate the impact of management actions to modify fish habitat suitability. The river Rotte suits perfectly for this case study, because recently a fish passage has been realised between the Rotte and Nieuwe Maas to facilitate fish migration and expand living conditions. Furthermore, the river Rotte is a designated WFD water body, but the current status of the river varies between "poor" and "moderate" due to an unbalance between plant-loving and benthivorous fish species.

The model developed in this thesis is a Bayesian Belief Network model that predicts habitat factors for food preference and preference for habitat structure. The model is based on machine learning with a set of cases from monitoring data and predicts the probability distribution for fish habitat suitability for plant-loving and benthivorous fish species. The model has been applied to assess the impact of local conditions on fish habitat differentiation and to evaluate the impact of management actions on fish habitat suitability. The research shows that the Bayesian Belief Network model is very useable for policy making and facilitates the participation of various stakeholders. However, the current version of the model shows inadequate prediction accuracy and relies heavily on sampling data. This can be improved by expanding the scope of the model to include other water bodies in the Netherlands and by using metamodels for specific model variables.

Overall, the Bayesian Belief Network model is functional and usable for policy making, but further improvements are needed to enhance its prediction accuracy. This can be achieved through expanding the model's scope, evaluating its performance, and including more habitat factors in the model structure.

Changes in the climate have forced municipalities to rethink urban development and become more climate-resilient. One way they can achieve this is by implementing Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems, or SUDS. Permeable pavements are a type of SUDS designed to let rainwater infiltrate, thereby reducing runoff and lowering peak flows. They can be used to mitigate climate change effects. Municipalities have slowly started implementing permeable pavements into their projects on a small
scale, but numerous barriers still stand in the way of widespread implementation. Various barriers are related to information sharing.

This thesis aimed to improve the innovation implementation process by examining information sharing between municipalities and companies. Grass concrete pavements, or green parking, was chosen as a case study, a relatively new permeable pavement system using open pavers, substrate, and a mix of grass seeds to allow precipitation to infiltrate while adding green to urban areas. Three main flows of information were considered: between companies and municipalities, between different departments within the same municipality, and between municipalities and other levels of government. Interviews were conducted with interviewees in various roles from both companies and
municipalities involved in the process of innovation implementation.

A network of various factors was formed, with three key issues:
• A lack of consensus on what a successful project should be.
• Uncertainty about responsibility leading to a situation where the implementation of green parking
is dependent on the motivation of individuals.
• Pilot projects are conducted by municipalities without clear goals, therefore, producing no results that can be analyzed or used for upscaling.

The second part of the thesis involved further analysis of the three key issues. Multiple recommendations for municipalities and companies were formulated. Recommendations for conducting successful pilot projects are also provided and are applicable to both green parking as well as other innovations. For municipalities, the recommendations are to make responsibilities clear, perform a life cycle cost analysis, set clear and concrete goals in their climate adaptation strategy, share successful experiences, and create a step-by-step guide for innovations to become standardized. These recommendations are mainly aimed at green parking but will also benefit the implementation of other innovations.
For companies, the recommendations are to create realistic expectations, convince the water board of the water storage capacity of the system, and conduct further research into optimizing maintenance plans. These recommendations are mainly aimed at green parking and Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems (SUDS). For pilot projects, the recommendations are to reach a consensus on what defines a success beforehand, set realistic goals and start small, include a follow-up plan, find partner municipalities to collaborate with, and find a balance between intensive and superficial monitoring. The results from this thesis consisted of concrete recommendations for both municipalities and companies to improve the innovation implementation process. Furthermore, the results can be a starting point for more profound research into information sharing and how it relates to innovation implementation. This can include testing the recommendations at a municipality to optimize the process, like setting up a pilot program or expanding the climate adaptation strategy.

The Province of South Holland is conducting a heritage project to explore the historical significance of barge canals and their future role in a changing climate. This thesis aims to address the water challenges posed by increased floods and droughts caused by climate change through the implementation of a water buffersystem. The buffer should allow the region to serve as a drainage during storms and retain water during droughts, considering the projected climate conditions in 2100. The study focuses on a large case study area, the heart of South Holland, which is enveloped by barge canals and divided into three water boards. A water balance model, calibrated using existing pump time series, is utilized to simulate water flows at the polder level. The model demonstrates sufficient accuracy for predicting larger spatial and seasonal scales within the jurisdiction of the water boards. Future conditions are simulated in the model by incorporating KNMI scenarios. However, the scenarios underestimate the occurrence of droughts, resulting in an underestimation of polder inlet and an overestimation of outlet. 
An above-average extreme climate change scenario is used to compensate for these biases. Combining the model output with long term statistical storm and drought forecasts, this leads to a more realistic buffer design capacity. If the reservoirs can be operated as prescribed, the primary hydrological purposes of the natural water buffers can complement each other. The first criterion consists of the buffering of the increased inequality of net inflow distribution throughout an average expected year, for which 20 million m³ with an additional top layer of 115 mm would be necessary. The second criterion entails the draining of the increase of intense precipitation events. 7.5 million m³ would be necessary to drain the extra precipitation of a 1000 year return period storm event. Thirdly, the buffers should be able to provide water, compensating for the aggravation of drought conditions. 34 million m³ should suffice to compensate for the aggravation of droughts with a return period of 2 years and longer. As the criteria are conditionally compatible, 34 million m³ is the net minimum required buffering capacity for the center of South Holland. 
The final optimal buffering strategy entails the realization of a large buffer in the Noordplaspolder, connecting the Rotte and the Hoogeveensche Vaart, and of a smaller buffer in Schieveen. It also requires the expansion of the water reservoirs in the Eendragtspolder and Berkel. The larger buffer will feature a deeper canal, permanently submerged, linking the Rotte and the Hoogeveensche Vaart, which in turn will connect to the nearby boezem water network. The Noordplaspolder and Eendragtspolder will buffer the area of the two water boards Rijnland and Schieland and the Krimpenerwaard that are inside the case study area, Schieveen and Berkel will buffer Delfland. The Schie and the Vliet will play important roles as water carriers between Delfland and its neighboring water boards and the Nieuwe Maas. This strategy not only addresses water management but also offers recreational, historical, and ecological opportunities. It revives the functions of old barge canals, the Vliet and the Schie, and restores the connection between the Rotte and the Hoogeveensche Vaart, adding to the solution's historical value.

In dit onderzoek is onderzocht welke aanvullingen in het waterschaarstebeleid ervoor kunnen zorgen dat de beleidsontwikkelingen in Nederland aansluiten op de optredende verandering tot en met 2050. Hierbij is enerzijds in kaart gebracht hoe het beleid, met betrekking tot waterschaarste, zich heeft ontwikkeld van de Eerste Nota Waterhuishouding tot op heden. Anderzijds is aan de hand van drie casusgebieden onderzocht welke veranderingen er optreden in de waterbalans van Nederland tot en met 2050. Tot slot zijn deze onderdelen samengebracht om te komen tot het inzicht in hoeverre de ontwikkelingen in het beleid aansluiten op de veranderingen die optreden tot en met 2050 en welke aanvulling hier wenselijk zijn.

This research analyses and evaluates the performance of the drainage system in Beira, Mozambique. It considers its formation, maintenance, failure modes and connections, to recommend improvements on its performance. The research identifies six primary failure modes - vegetation overgrowth, human interference, waste accumulation, sedimentation, underdimensioned structures and ’other’ - highlighting the disparities between technical design and real-world complexities. The study quantifies the presence of these failure modes by direct observations and transect walks, and uses hydraulic modeling software, D-FLOW FM 1D2D, to simulate their impact on inundation depths.

The results show that widespread flooding can be found even without failure modes. Additionally, it prioritises the risks of vegetation and human interference. Therefore, it recommends an increase of hydraulic capacity of a part of the system, proactive vegetation management, water level control, and community engagement in system management. It also underscores the importance of early land demarcation in urban planning, the implementation of flexible yet delineated canals, and the involvement of communities in flood adaptation.

In the summer of 2021 severe flooding occurred in Belgium, Germany and The Netherlands. High damages have been estimated in the Geul catchment, leading up to 250 million euro. Flood risk management in The Netherlands is mostly focussed on reducing the probability of flooding and in lesser extent on damage mitigation. Especially in areas such as the Geul catchment, reducing the probability of flooding through flood defences is difficult to achieve. Also taking climate change and urban development into consideration, it is challenging to meet flood safety standards in the (near) future, as the frequency and intensity of flooding is expected to increase. Under these circumstances a shift is observed in scientific and policy discourses towards a flood risk reduction strategy that includes resilience, in which the capacity to resist, mitigate and recover has a larger role. As a consequence, there is an increasing interest to include private actors in the strategy by promoting private flood mitigation measures. However, it is difficult to quantify the effects of these private measures and little research in The Netherlands has been performed. This thesis investigates which improvements can be made to the flood risk reduction strategy in the Geul catchment, thereby increasing resilience through private flood mitigation measures. Thereto a method to include and asses the effect of the measures in a risk based approach is derived.

An international literature study about flood resilience and society provided two applicable private mitigation measures and their damage reductive effect. Dry-proofing types of measures are defined as measures that prevent water from entering an object and can reduce damages between 60%-100% up to an inundation depth of 1 meter. Wet-proofing measures reduce damages and recovery time, while allowing water inside the object, by flood adapted use or structural measures. The maximum damage reduction is 53% up to an inundation depth of 2 meter. Investigation of the Protection Motivation Theory provided important factors that improve the uptake of these measures, by identifying connections between awareness, preparedness and self-reliance. The two main findings are that the communication strategy should focus on the relative risk reduction effect of private measures and should provide guidance on implementation to motivate private actors to initiate action. Five interviews were used as a reference to these findings. To describe the relative effect of measures, they are modelled in a publicly available risk assessment method (SSM-2017), based on hazard, exposure and vulnerability. The effect of the measures is calculated for two scenarios, that describe at which locations the measures are implemented. In the first scenario, top risk locations are identified and measures are applied. This is representative for high awareness and object specific guidance. The second scenario randomly distributes measures over the flood prone area and represents the current approach without specific guidance. For the modelling of measures and scenarios, an automatic procedure using a Python script is developed, which is applicable in The Netherlands in combination with SSM-2017.

The results showthat both dry-proofing andwet-proofing houses and shops are applicable in the Geul catchment. At many locations measures have a positive benefit-cost ratio, indicating it is worthwhile to implement them compared to a situation without measures. More importantly, it is found that high awareness of flood risk or object specific guidance increases the effectiveness and cost-efficiency significantly. For residential objects, an optimum was found to implement measures at the top 40% locations most at risk. The achieved risk reduction was 47% and the benefit-cost ratio 1.3-2.2 for dryproofing. At this coverage the benefit-cost ratio ofmeasures is a factor 2 higher compared to a situation without specific guidance. Location specific investigation revealed that the inundation depth is the main driver for determining the most effective measure. Wet-proofing is cost-efficient in a smaller number of areas at risk for inundation depths higher than 1 meter. For most areas dry-proofing is more cost-efficient as the expected inundation depths in the catchment are mostly below 1 meter.

The research demonstrates the potential of privatemeasures with a significant reduction of flood risk. Given the limitations to reduce the probability of flooding in the Geul catchment, the measures are highly interesting. The method itself was able to determine the type of measure thatwas most effective with confidence. However, based on uncertainties in the model, the benefit-cost ratios have to be interpreted carefully. An extension of this research with a higher resolution of input data can address this uncertainty. Current approaches and communication to motivate private measures were found to be ineffective, as they mainly focus on the type of measures and costs instead of the effect and implementation. It is suggested to improve this by explicitly including the before mentioned factors and bymaking use of social network on the spatial scale of a neighbourhood.

Living in the deep polders in the deltaic landscape of the Netherlands poses large-scale challenges. Biodiversity decline, weather extremes, sea level rise, salination, the housing crisis, and subsidence affect large parts of the Netherlands. These challenges should be tackled together through the integral question of ‘what does the area need?’ instead of the more contemporary idea of adding one aspect and the rest will follow. This thesis argues that the territory-oriented approach in relation to current functions and natural and cultural value support urban development to create value in low-lying Dutch polders. In this project, a design for the Benthuizer Noordpolder is created with the use of the territory-oriented approach that regards several aspects of the project, such as urban development, water management, agriculture, and recreation. Through the investment in time, cultural and natural values, integral design, and adaption a design is created that takes a proactive stance toward the current climatic and societal challenges.

This is achieved by using water as a carrier. The hypothesis of a new waterway functions as the backbone of the transition of the area. This transition allows for the reconstruction of a landscape that is related to the natural cultural landscape. Through several steps towards 2100, the vision creates a new type of urban ecosystem that has a beneficial relationship with the landscape. Infrastructure, housing, and open spaces are reconfigured to enhance the system. Through the addition of floodable housing typologies and infrastructure, a new perspective is given on the relationship with the delta which argues for a shift from extreme water management to the creation of boundaries in which the water is allowed its natural rhythm. Through the territory-oriented approach and the use of the physical conditions of the site, the landscape is transformed from barren agricultural landscape to a multifunctional landscape in which there is space for agriculture, living, and recreation. With this design, the argument is made that it is possible to propose urban development in the low-lying polders.

The project’s progression from today until 2100 is not without limitations. Questions have been put about the justness, the involvement of stakeholders, and water management specifications. This design for the area of the Benthuizer Noordpolder conveys that future value can be created by reimagining infrastructure, housing, and open spaces through long-term investment.

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.

On the 13th and 14th of July 2021 a cold pit caused extreme precipitation along with record discharges in tributaries of the Meuse. These discharges caused floods in Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands.

Extreme precipitation occurrence and its intensity are expected to increase in the area due to climate change, increasing flood risk. Flood risk is the product of hazard, exposure and vulnerability. Research indicates all three are equally important drivers.

Planning of adaptation measures has been done with Decision Making in Deep Uncertainty (DMDU) methods to account for deep uncertainty. These methods lack natural and institutional context. Literature suggests both the natural system and the system governing it are complex. Therefore there is a need for a method providing climate change adaptation strategies with regard for the context and the notion that these systems are complex.

To address the research gap, a Framework is developed that combines natural and institutional aspects of climate change adaptation. A systems approach is used to find leverage points for wider systemic change. This can be used to spark autonomous adaptation, thereby also targeting exposure and vulnerability. The Framework provides a solution space of possible adaptation combinations and maps of spatial cooperation difficulty. By combining these possible combinations and locations are proposed. Systemic leverage points determine preferential strategies and additional policies. The Framework is tested in a case study in the Geul, Methods used are expert judgment, literature review, social network analysis and using open-source information.

The adaptive capacity is roughly 20 millimeters equivalent (6,680,000 m3) upstream of Valkenburg and 23.6 millimeters equivalent (7,882,400 m3) in the city itself. Thousands of combinations are possible. Depending on preference, this number is severely reduced.

The network governing flood risk is dense and polycentric. Cooperation quality is likely not sufficient between many actors to implement very intrusive adaptation measures that would be needed according to the solution space. When a certain cooperation is required, Flanders and the Netherlands are central players in the network. Germany and France are isolated in the network, causing the national governments of those nations to hold brokerage positions. Cooperation is the hardest in transboundary subcatchments especially when multiple nations are involved.

Depending on the preferences in the network, several adaptation strategies are possible in the Geul. In terms of cooperation difficulty, downstream solutions located in the Netherlands are preferential. Natural solutions would be preferable to harness self-organizational capacities of nature. Strategies that would cause secondary effects by intervening deeper into the systems should be highly visible. In addition, adaptation strategies should be accompanied by policies aimed at restoring the flow of information to citizens, restore or create financial incentives for autonomous adaptation of inhabitants and alter the paradigm of manageability of nature. Delays in planned adaptation response could be shortened by network interventions such as creating a central operational role in the network, implementing binding adaptation goals using the common European legislation or improving regional cooperation.

The research presented in this document presents a comparative analysis of the mainstreaming process of Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems (SuDS) in mid-sized and large municipalities in the Netherlands. As a result of the extreme weather conditions presented by the STOWA, deteriorating sewers, and the increase of paved areas in urban environments, alternative solutions (i.e. SuDS) are becoming more relevant. However, the adoption of these innovations is still rather slow. Answers are sought by different scholars, however, for the Netherlands research remains limited. SuDS that are implemented in public space fall under the responsibility of the municipalities. Hence, recent studies have highlighted factors in the implementation process of SuDS for municipalities in general. The biggest municipalities seem to always be leading in research and disparities in how different organizations perceive influencing factors of the implementation process have not been studied yet.
The research objective of this thesis is to find to which extent the perceived factors in the main- streaming process between different sized municipalities differ.

The methodology consists of a literature review, two case studies, and a focus group. The literature review concerned transition theory which was applied to climate adaptation. A conceptual framework has been developed that describes the mainstreaming process. Different theories were combined in this framework: the Mainstreaming model, four-A framework, Governance Capacity Framework, multi-level perspective.

The empirical research applied consists of case studies that have taken place in two Dutch municipalities: Rotterdam and Capelle aan den IJssel. The case studies considered were projects that implemented a new concept for the first time. The main criteria for the selection were the size of the municipalities and their (geo)hydrological boundary conditions. A comparison was made between the results of both studies and cross-checked in a focus group. The data in the case studies were collected through semi-structured interviews and documentation. The semi-structured interviews were based on themes identified in the conceptual framework. The semi-structured interviews were conducted via Microsoft Teams. Examples of questions that were asked were: "What were the main drivers for the project in your city?" and "Do you find that propositions of innovations are well received in your department?".
The interviewees were part of these case studies and sampled through a stakeholder diagram and snowball effects. In total 10 participants were interviewed which were part of the case studies. To increase the validation of the case study results, different municipalities were invited to participate in a focus group to evaluate how they identified with the findings. This focus group consisted out

The findings of the study imply that the mid-sized municipalities differ from larger municipalities mainly on three factors:
• They still have to form climate adaptive strategies
• Their allocated budgets are inferior
• They lack policies that allow for alternative methods as opposed to traditional sewer management
• They lack climate-adaptive experts who are actively involved in projects

Furthermore, it was found that knowledge sharing of pilot experiments should be pursued more actively to facilitate the adoption of SuDS. In addition, this knowledge is now mostly catered to engineers, developers, and policymakers. For which it was found that to facilitate adoption, the involvement of asset managers should be pursued too.

The research is of conceptual use and is of use for multiple groups. The problem statement has been initiated by VPdelta which is a valorization program that bridges innovative SuDS to the market. It is therefore interesting for them to gain insights into the barriers and driving factors on the side of the clients. For scholars, the research gap of heterogeneity between municipalities has been explored which helps to understand the problem from different perspectives. Lastly, it may be interesting for mid-sized municipalities as recommendations are formed for what they can do to become more climate adaptive.

The aim of this thesis was to investigate the evolution of Ilissos and Kifissos river basins in Athens, Greece and the ways this evolution was influenced by specific human factors. The dynamics of the human-water interactions have been studied in the frame of sociohydrology and the central key was to study the impact society had on the hydrological regime of the rivers and the rivers on society, at the basins of Ilissos and Kifissos. Athens is the capital city of Greece, where almost half of the country’s population is located and the most important financial center of the country, where about 70% of country’s financial activity takes place. The time frame of this thesis covers almost the last 200 years, from 1834, when Athens became the capital city of Greece, until 2019 and takes into account the most important political and social events of these years. The human factors used in this research and which have also been used in sociohydrological studies are the community’s sensitivity and memory, along with human parameters like the social and political regime. In this research, the case study research method was selected for exploring in depth the interventions applied at the two rivers and the relations of people with water resources during the study period, by paying attention at details and attempting to correlate conditions and events. In more details, for collecting information about the evolution of social and political regime and the interventions to the rivers, the historical analysis method was used and for exploring the evolution of community’s sensitivity and memory, the method of content analysis at newspaper articles and municipal acts was chosen. The study showed that according to the way the community’s sensitivity evolved, there has been a change at the way people face Ilissos and Kifissos, from economically exploiting the rivers, towards a more environmentally sustainable management attitude. However, throughout city’s political and social history there have been periods, where the prevailing way people faced the two rivers changed drastically due to severe political and social events like wars, change of political regime and severe flood events. Moreover, the memory of the rivers influenced the way people treat the rivers, since it was found that there had been positive and negative memories related to the rivers, concerning their historical value on Athens history, memories related to their good or bad environmental condition and memories related to flood events. Usually, memory mentions were used to criticize the government for the process of projects or were used as motivation for more protection measures.

It is no secret that the climate is changing, however, the severity and speed of this process is under debate. This leads to the question if and when we need to take action to protect the Netherlands against the effects of climate change. In order to deal with the uncertainties in policy- and decision-making, an adaptive approach is desirable. An option is to apply the Dynamic Adaptive Policy Pathways (DAPP) approach.

The DAPP approach has been applied successfully in several large scale projects. However, less attention is given to the application on small scale areas, and no applications on (small-scaled) polder areas are present. The aim of this report is to answer the following research question: "Is the Dynamic Adaptive Policy Pathways approach suited for improving the adaptivity of polder management, given the uncertainty in climate change effects?" The Zuidplaspolder is used as a case area for application of the DAPP approach. This deep-lying polder is interesting due to its diverse land use, the low elevation levels and already present issues in water management.

Through assessing the potential effects of climate change, conducting interviews, creating a hydrological model and following the steps of the DAPP procedure, a pathway map for the Zuidplaspolder is created. This pathway map is evaluated during focus groups with stakeholders from the Zuidplaspolder case area, as well as actors from a different polder area, being the Schermerpolder. Besides evaluating the applicability of the pathway map, the DAPP approach itself was assessed as well.

The pathway map provided several insights, one being the requirement to start considering actions at present in order to timely cope with issues in the future.
Moreover, it was found that the DAPP approach is suited for improving the adaptivity in polder management, given the uncertainty in climate change effects. The pathway map is a helpful tool for authorities and affected stakeholders within polder areas to explicate upcoming issues. However, a cost-benefit analysis is required for actual, well-informed policy- and decision-making based on the pathway map. Nonetheless, it assists in making decisions more strategically and to explain certain choices in decision-making, which helps in creating support and understanding. Even though there are difficulties in translating large-scale actions and their effects to a smaller scale, the scale of the case area proved not to be a major issue. At last, the DAPP approach is found useful for other polder areas as well. However, a general pathway map cannot be created, since each polder has its unique set of characteristics and stakeholders with mindset on urgency.

When the pathway map is utilised for actual policy- and decision making, the use of an extended model is recommended. Here, probabilistic simulations are suggested, as well as the incorporation of several components that were excluded in this research. For identifying an integral pathway map for Dutch polder areas, it is recommended to research the clustering of polder characteristics on their constraints and related measures. By selecting the clusters that fit a designated case polder, a tailored pathway map can be created.

In 2018 The Netherlands experienced the most severe drought since 1976. In response to this, the Minister of Infrastructure and Water Management established the 'Beleidstafel Droogte'. An external scientific committee took part in the Beleidstafel Droogte. One of their key recommendations was to introduce other drought indicators since the currently used indicator (precipitation deficit) is not sufficient due to limitations. This research investigates what drought indicators can be used in The Netherlands to support anticipative drought management. For water managers, it is crucial to know when and where drought occurs, and how severe this drought is. To reveal the start, severity, and ending of a drought, drought indicators can be used. However, to define drought, regional differences need to be incorporated. Therefore, this research used a case study area to find out what drought indicators can be introduced. Within the boundaries of this area, three different analyses were conducted: 1) hydrological analysis, 2) stakeholder analysis and 3) policy analysis. According to the results, a set of potentially relevant and suitable drought indicators was selected. These drought indicators were tested with focus groups to determine whether they can be used to support anticipative drought management. The area of water board Vallei & Veluwe was selected as the case study area. Concerning the hydrological analysis, multiple methods were applied to obtain a better understanding of the water system and essential hydrological processes. Because of the relative nature of drought, several stakeholders that are directly affected by drought were interviewed. Through semi-structured interviews, information concerning drought was obtained about the stakes and information needs for different stakeholders. Since measures can be taken to anticipate drought or to mitigate drought problems, the policy on drought was considered. In this way, the interrelation between policy on drought and drought indicators was taken into account. The results of the analyses mentioned above led to the following selection of drought indicators: SPI-1 & SPI-3, soil moisture, stream discharge, groundwater levels/isohypse, NDVI and EVI. To test the selected indicators can support anticipative drought management, two focus groups session were organised. For these focus groups, a dry year was reconstructed, which was explored by the participants. Based on the information that was presented to the participants, they were asked whether they would advise taking measures and what their level of alertness was. One group received information from the selected indicators, whereas the other group received information which is used nowadays for drought monitoring. After evaluating and comparing the focus groups, conclusions were drawn. The participants that received information from the selected drought indicators acted more pro-active, because: 1) measures were advised more rapidly, 2) more measures were advised, and maintained applicable for a more extended period, and 3) the level of alertness was significantly higher. Based on these findings, it was concluded that the selected drought indicators support anticipative drought management.

The United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is scheduled to present their solution for a storm surge barrier on Galveston Island in 2021 to congress for approval. A solution for an engineered dune system on the Galveston Island West End has been proposed, but storm surge models have shown that protection from this engineered dune only goes so far, moreover the search for a proper alternative that fulfills technical requirements and social political influences have proven to be challenging. This study aimsto assess different dune alternatives, proposed in different reports, with a range of multi disciplinary criteria. The assessment of dune alternatives will also result in guidelines that should be considered for design, maintenance and governance aspects for an engineered dune barrier on Galveston Island, TX. Using a multi disciplinary approach for the evaluation of the different dune alternatives, the following research question was formulated: To what extent do the various dune alternatives fit the requirements for a land barrier at the West End of Galveston Island, looking at both technical and sociopolitical aspects? In this context, technical requirements are defined as the storm surge-and rainfall coping capacities of the dune, i.e. against what kind of storm is the dune resistant. Social political influences are a combination of the perception by local residents that are directly influenced by the construction of a dune system, governmental forms of collaboration, and in provide an analysis of the maintainability of the dune alternatives using the storm surge capacities. The different dune alternatives that have been assessed consist of the dune system proposed by the USACE and GLO (2018), the big dune system proposed by Galvez (2019) and the hybrid dune system as proposed by Muller (2017) and will hereafter be called alternative 1, 2 and 3 respectively. In this report a fourth alternative was introduced which is based on the hybrid dune system by Muller (2017) and consists of a clay core instead of a concrete core. Alternative 4 was chosen in order to simulate the difference between a concrete core and a clay core. Based on XBeach calculations, the storm surge coping capability of each dune was determined by projecting 10 year-, 50 year- and 100 year storms onto the dune alternatives. ArcGIS maps from the Galveston Island allowed for projection of flow patterns on the island in order to determine the rainfall coping capacity. An evaluation of sociopolitical aspects was based on a review of the literature on dune systems, forms of collaboration between governmental and private entities, and interviews with various respondents consisting of private individuals and companies, as well as governmental agencies involved in the process. Analysis of the various dune alternatives, based on multi disciplinary criteria, demonstrated that alternative 1 is completely flattened in 50 year storm events, whereas alternatives 2, 3 and 4 show a good storm surge capacity. All alternatives aggravate the current rainfall capacity at Galveston Island West End, because each dune system poses an obstruction that is not there currently. Alternatives 2 through 4 show a good enough storm resilience, requiring post-storm recovery maintenance while still providing a reduced but fair storm surge capacity. The sociopolitical results indicate that Galveston Island West End residents wishes are only safeguarded for alternative 1. On this basis, the main recommendations are to perform tests upon the dune system alternatives regarding storm events occurring in succession, which is not unusual in the Gulf of Mexico. A combination of alongshore erosion rates from the Galveston Island and the effect of dune vegetation should be determined for the dune alternatives, since these aspects were not considered in this research. Further research is needed to identify the combined effects of rainfall and storm surge in order to get insights into the performances of a certain alternatives. Furthermore, the exact role including the desired storm surge capability should be well defined in order to determine which stakeholder wishes and influences are to be fully considered for the dune system design.

Scarcity of water resources in Central Asia’s Amu Darya and Syr Darya river basins lies at the root of long-running tensions between Central Asian countries over the division of these resources. Water diplomacy by outside actors aimed at mediating this dispute has so far shown limited results. This thesis investigates what lessons for third-party water diplomacy can be drawn from the water narratives of the Central Asian governments. This question is pursued through a discourse analysis of government publications. This analysis reveals that four distinct discourses can be identified in the Tajik and Uzbek government narratives, which can be classified along two axes: upstream-downstream and international-domestic. The first distinction is to be expected, but the second warrants a closer look. A comparison with publications by governments engaged in regional water diplomacy shows that the Central Asian government discourses aimed at international audiences skew much more closely to the stated priorities of mediators and donors than their discourses for domestic consumption do. This implies that water diplomats should be careful in taking the narrative of Central Asian governments at face value and should pay close attention to their domestic narrative in order to carry out successful mediation.

Inland flooding along with its casualties is expected to increase. Climate change, urban expansion on floodplains, degraded ecosystems due to human interventions, lack of effective emergency flood risk management plans contribute to flood intensification and risk exposure. The heretofore flood mitigation practices seem to stop short of both mitigating flood risk and providing further economic, social, and environmental benefits. Instead, practices co-working with nature and its physical processes are constantly gaining ground.
Nature-based solutions (NBS) are measures encompassing the ‘co-operation with nature’ approach; mitigating fluvial flood risk while being cost-effective, resource-efficient, and providing numerous environmental, social, and economic benefits. Current progress is working on strengthening the evidence-base of NBS projects through multiple on-going projects. Such evidence would lay the foundation for the mainstreaming and transferability of the NBS practice that will, eventually, lead to its upscaling.
To this end, there is need for holistic and coherent organisation of all the NBS information and approaches acquired in practice. Therefore, several frameworks have been developed in an attempt to map the NBS design and implementation and/or evaluate them using indicators. Contribution of NBS to sustainable development has also been established since the social, economic and environmental sectors, on which NBS have an impact, constitute the so-called “triple bottom line” of the sustainability concept.
Given the unequivocal link between NBS and sustainability, a growing interest recognizes the need to explore a NBS connection to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), as set by the United Nations Organization. Additionally, since NBS seek to complement conventional infrastructure, their engineering characteristics should also be assessed.
Therefore, this research project develops a framework for assessing the NBS performance for fluvial flood mitigation. The framework adopts an integrated approach, using indicators for evaluative and benchmarking purposes. Novel aspects of the framework are the direct link between the NBS for fluvial flood mitigation and the SDGs and the introduction of technical assessment indicators. Ultimately, the NBS framework is meant to assist experts in providing guidance for similar projects and contributing to the mainstreaming and transferability of the NBS practice.
The framework was guided by a review of existing NBS assessment frameworks and methodologies, already realized NBS projects, and the UN 2030 Agenda. The assessment frameworks and methodologies worked as a starting point both for the structure and the components of the deliverable framework. Already realized NBS projects were treated as case studies calibrating the literature findings with what was applied in practice. The UN 2030 Agenda was used for developing indicators that address contribution to the SDGs. Finally, the framework was tested by applying it to an already realized NBS project, the Eddleston Water Project (different from the calibration ones), by giving the project metadata as input to the framework indicators.
Overall, the framework performed well as most of its indicators are having indicative data that were found in publicly available references. Expert consultation was needed for acquiring some of the data but was kept to a limited extent as much as possible. Additionally, some overlaps between the needed data per framework indicator were observed that can probably be attributed to the scope and current state of the Eddleston project. Regarding the Eddleston project it was found that meets its initial objectives, contributes to SDGs 1, 6, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 15, and 17 while enhances several provisioning, regulating, cultural, and supporting ecosystem services of the Eddleston Water.
To the downsides of the framework, its testing with only one case study due to the time frame of the project. Furthermore, it was developed and tested focusing on the developed world. Additionally, the link between NBS and SDGs is based on the author’s self-explanation and gained insights throughout the project. Hence, a more experienced person might create different links.
In line with the aforementioned limitations, future recommendations suggest further testing with ranging, both in scale and in location, case studies. Expert judgment could also be used as another testing way by examining experts’ suggestions and willingness to use the framework. Finally, the inclusion of the SDGs in the indicators offer several opportunities: (i) re-evaluating potential NBS-SDG links and (ii) examining framework changes in case of considering the developing world.

Due to climate change a rise in sea level is expected, which is a threat to the coastline of the Netherlands. The area of the project focuses on the seaside resort of Scheveningen, and specifically on the area from the Morales boulevard to the start of the natural dunes. The reason for this specific area is because the municipality of The Hague has little information about what the consequences are in this area due to future sea level rise. Furthermore, the Grand hotel Amrâth Kurhaus and different kind of hospitality industries are situated here. The Amrâth Kurhaus is a monumental building with a lot of history, therefore the municipality of The Hague attaches great value to it. However, whether future sea level rise will really cause for a hazard for the Amrâth Kurhaus and its surroundings is not clear. The first aim is to investigate whether this is the case or not. The second aim is to find how it could be solved if there is a problem.

Since coined in 2011, socio-hydrology studies have been dominated with mathematical models developed by mostly hydrologists, which often did not take social aspects into account so seriously. Some people argued that more attention into the social part of socio-hydrology should be given, because often the social aspects were too oversimplified. This thesis research tried to dig deeper into the social aspects of a socio-hydrology system. Keduang sub-basin was chosen to be the case study, as it has a sedimentation problem which has caused a huge operational problem of Gajah Mungkur dam, a multipurpose dam that mainly works as a flood control and hydropower plant in Solo river basin, the largest basin in Java Island of Indonesia.

This research used the case study research approach proposed by Yin (2013). Three different analysis were done to examine the system: stakeholder analysis to identify the relevant actors and their characteristics, historical events analysis to examine what the actors have done that were related to the sedimentation issue, and Socio-cultural, Technological, Economic, Environmental, Political, Legal and Ethical (STEEPLE) analysis, to investigate those each sectors as external factors that might influence the decision making of the related actors. To summarize the analysis, a conceptual model was created to describe the socio-hydrology system of Keduang sub-basin.

There are a total of 10 relevant actors in the system, which come from 3 different groups: government, society and external actors. The government consists of 7 government agencies, the society represents farmers, and the external factors consist of researchers and donators. Between these 3 groups of actors, there is a feedback loop connection between the government and the society, which implies that the government has created some programs based on the society characteristic. Meanwhile, the external actors only interact with the government towards coordination.

The human-water interactions are different between the government and society, the government has a negative feedback loop with the water system, which means the government reduce what occurs in the water system, for example the high sediment in the system influences the government to remove the sediment. Surprisingly, it is not the case for the society, as it has a positive feedback loop especially regarding high sediments. Once the river had high sediments, people started to throw more garbage there thinking it would not be back clean, which would make the river even worse.

The actions done by the government and society are not only influenced by the water system, but also other external factors. For the government, economic, socio-cultural and politic factors are very influential to their actions. On the other hand, economic and socio-cultural factors are very influential to the society actions. These external factors seem to be more influential than the water system itself for their actions towards the water system.

Qualitative socio-hydrology study is clearly different with the quantitative study. Qualitative focuses on the why and how of relations in the system. It can give a good understanding on how such relations occur in the system. Hence, qualitative study can complement the quantitative study so that the model for quantitative study will not be oversimplified and based on valid reasoning.