Chapter 2: Overcoming barriers to innovation in urban flood risk management Available to Purchase

To overcome barriers to innovation in urban flood risk management and enable widespread implementation of blue–green infrastructure (BGI) to support cities in their transition towards Blue–Green City status, a range of biophysical, socio-political and governance uncertainties and challenges must first be identified, addressed and dealt with. In this chapter, an approach to identify and prioritise the barriers, or relevant dominant uncertainties (RDUs), that hamper blue–green decision-making is introduced and applied in two cities at different stages of BGI implementation: Portland, Oregon, USA, and Newcastle upon Tyne, UK. Strategies that have been employed to successfully overcome a range of barriers to innovative flood risk and stormwater management are presented and further discussed as part of three international and national best practice exemplars: the East Lents Floodplain Restoration Project, Portland, Oregon, USA; SuDS in Sutton’s Schools, London, UK; and Ellis Meadows BGI, Leicester, UK. These three examples demonstrate that identifying and managing the biophysical, socio-political and governance RDUs are essential for wider implementation of blue–green systems. This is because practitioners and policy-makers involved in delivering innovative flood risk and water management projects must have confidence that BGI components are scientifically sound, in addition to being supported, accepted and desired by the intended local beneficiaries.