Flood Risk and Social Justice is a response to the rising significance of floods and flood-related disasters worldwide, as an initiative to promote a socially just approach to the problems of flood risk. It integrates the human-social and the technological components to provide a holistic view. This book treats flooding as a multi-dimensional human and natural world tragedy that must be accommodated using all the social and technological means that can be mobilised before, during and after the flooding event. It covers socially just flood risk mitigation practices which necessitate a wide range of multidisciplinary approaches, starting from social and wider environmental needs, including feedback cycles between human needs and technological means. Flood Risk and Social Justice looks at how to judge whether a risk is acceptable or not by addressing an understanding of social and phenomenological considerations rather than simple calculations of probabilities multiplied by unwanted outcomes and their balancing between costs and benefits. It is argued that the present 'flood management' practice should be largely replaced by the social justice approach where particular attention is given to deciding what is the right thing to do within a much wider context. Thus it insists upon the validity of modes of human understanding which cannot be addressed within the limited context of modern science. Flood Risk and Social Justice is written to support a wide range of audiences and seeks to improve the dialogue between researchers and practitioners from different disciplines (including post-graduate engineering, environmental and social science students, industry practitioners, academics, planners, environmental advocacy groups and environmental law professionals) who have a strong interest in a new kind of social justice work that can act as a continuous counter-balance to the various mechanisms that unceasingly give rise to profound injustices. More information about this book can be found in this article written for the WaterWiki by the author: http://www.iwawaterwiki.org/xwiki/bin/view/Articles/FloodRiskandSocialJustice Authors: Zoran Vojinovic is Associate Professor at the UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education, Delft, the Netherlands, with almost 20 years of consulting and research experience in various aspects of water industry in New Zealand, Australia, Asia, Europe, Central/South America and the Caribbean. Michael B. Abbott is Emeritus Professor at the UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education, Delft, the Netherlands, and a Director of the European Institute for Industrial Leadership in Brussels. He founded and developed the disciplines of Computational Hydraulics and Hydroinformatics and co-founded, the Journal of Hydroinformatics with Professor Roger Falconer.

It is the task of the engineer, as of any other professional person, to do everything that is reasonably possible to analyse the difficulties with which his or her client is confronted, and on this basis to design solutions and implement these in practice. The distributed hydrological model is, correspondingly, the means for doing everything that is reasonably possible - of mobilising as much data and testing it with as much knowledge as is economically feasible - for the purpose of analysing problems and of designing and implementing remedial measures in the case of difficulties arising within the hydrological cycle. Thus the aim of distributed hydrologic modelling is to make the fullest use of cartographic data, of geological data, of satellite data, of stream discharge measurements, of borehole data, of observations of crops and other vegetation, of historical records of floods and droughts, and indeed of everything else that has ever been recorded or remembered, and then to apply to this everything that is known about meteorology, plant physiology, soil physics, hydrogeology, sediment transport and everything else that is relevant within this context. Of course, no matter how much data we have and no matter how much we know, it will never be enough to treat some problems and some situations, but still we can aim in this way to do the best that we possibly can.

This is a comprehensive work of reference for engineers dealing with the hydraulic problems that occur along coastlines and estuaries and in harbours. This branch of engineering has experienced rapid and profound changes since the 1960s due to the introduction of powerful computer modelling techniques. The book presents concise reviews of key topics on these techniques as well as the traditional civil engineering aspects of design and construction of coastal and maritime works. The powerful tools which are now available for computational and numerical modelling of hydraulic systems have to a considerable extent replaced physical models as the most appropriate means of investigating and selecting economic design options. This development has taken place alongside a greater understanding of the transport processes of granular and cohesive sediments, and an increasing concern with the environmental impact of engineering works. At the design stage, the engineer now commonly has to demonstrate the impact of the proposed works on the natural/watery environment. The chapters are presented under seven main headings: the physical environment; the scientific background; numerical tools and t

A major new reference book bringing together wide-ranging expert guidance on coastal engineering, including harbours and estuaries. It covers both traditional engineering topics and the fast developing areas of mathematical modelling and computer simulation.

It is the task of the engineer, as of any other professional person, to do everything that is reasonably possible to analyse the difficulties with which his or her client is confronted, and on this basis to design solutions and implement these in practice. The distributed hydrological model is, correspondingly, the means for doing everything that is reasonably possible - of mobilising as much data and testing it with as much knowledge as is economically feasible - for the purpose of analysing problems and of designing and implementing remedial measures in the case of difficulties arising within the hydrological cycle. Thus the aim of distributed hydrologic modelling is to make the fullest use of cartographic data, of geological data, of satellite data, of stream discharge measurements, of borehole data, of observations of crops and other vegetation, of historical records of floods and droughts, and indeed of everything else that has ever been recorded or remembered, and then to apply to this everything that is known about meteorology, plant physiology, soil physics, hydrogeology, sediment transport and everything else that is relevant within this context. Of course, no matter how much data we have and no matter how much we know, it will never be enough to treat some problems and some situations, but still we can aim in this way to do the best that we possibly can.