Discussion and Conclusion

The approach is based on the scenario of flooding due to sea level rise in Grilstad Marina, with incremental and flexible measures to achieve the long-term goal of providing rescue, resilience and protection to the area. As the area is built on low elevated artificial land and is surrounded by water, the area is at risk of being affected by the predicted sea-level rise due to climate change. Potential risk of flooding affects the placement and construction of the area, and appropriate measures must be taken to 1) plan for emergency rescue, 2) improve the resilience quality of the island and 3) make construction of such islands safer and adaptable to sea level rise in the future. The approach taken for our plan builds incrementally on nature based ideas and contextual spatial strategies derived from the Trondheimsfjorden. The collective action of the proposed spatial strategies attempt to imitate the topography and network of valleys and ridges. The idea is to build safe passages on higher lands and public use spaces to be designed as green corridors that can reduce the impact of tidal action on the neighborhood.

Awareness of the vulnerability and risk are relatively low as the larger portion of the site is still new and under development, and the community is still young. Strengthening the community and building relationships between citizens and local stakeholders will be a crucial part to ensure the approach is successful in all the stages of the plan. To develop the approach, a lot of research has to be analyzed to understand the potential outcomes and scenarios. The plan recognizes the different stages and measures needed to both prepare and handle the impact of flooding in the area. Political influences and frameworks need to recognize the plans in order to achieve the results needed to minimize damage to the community and the physical structures in the area.

As our strategy is incremental, it has been prepared in short, medium and long term stages in order to build resilience over time. This compliments the flexible aspect of the approach, as it leaves room for discussion and changes to improve it over time from education, further development and experience from smaller events. All stakeholders involved need to recognize the approach and its goals for the policy to have influence before, during and after a possible flooding event. National and regional stakeholders have a lot of political influence and power that can provide structure to the policy making of the approach, and it is vital that the communication between them and the local stakeholders are clear on the measures that are needed on a financial and supportive level. The municipality needs to make sure the measures are communicated well to the local stakeholders and the community, and provide assistance to ensure awareness of the rescue areas and precautions.

Reflecting on the process and approach

Our scenario allows for availability of substantial finances. However, the measures proposed are nature based and community forward, with the aim to create a system where people can influence local implementation of flood resilience efforts. This comes from a vision to acknowledge that resilience efforts may need to be more local, knowledge and skills need to be available for people to be able to understand and develop resilience.

The flexible and incremental principles of the plan allow us to make rational, small scale decisions that can be scaled up as needed. The trial and error method of several ideas allows for changes to be made at different stages based on the learnings according to the response of the stakeholders involved.

Some of the high cost proposals are made for the long term, as these can be changed or evolved in the future. The scenario also allows for constructing structures to the development, such as water barricades, water squares, and artificial land due to the substantial budget. The financial approach allows for more measures to be considered to secure the area. If the budget was more limited, the measures might have been more based on self-help and emergency services, with less finances to fund new constructions.

The report has investigated possible measures that can be taken during the given scenario, in how to prepare the community and relevant stakeholders, and how to reduce the potential damages. The short, medium and long term approach will give the opportunity to build resilience over time and engage every stakeholder involved in the scenario. The financial freedom to construct physical measures provides the area long term secure measures that reduce the impact of flooding and damages. However, the success of the approach is dependent on good communication between stakeholders and the community, and that national stakeholders provide political frameworks that support this disaster management approach to Grilstad Marina. As the site is still under development and the community is young, community building and awareness of the flood risk in the area can mitigate the future risks considerably.