In England, 1 in 6 properties are at risk of flooding, which presents a resilience and planning challenge affecting millions of people across the country – and in Kent. How local government acts is hugely important.
The Kent School of Architecture and Planning’s own Samer Bagaeen has recently served on the advisory panel for a recently published report on this challenge entitled Plain Dealing: Building for Flood Resilience.
With the UK experiencing more extreme weather events including flooding and rising sea-levels, the planning system must absorb and adapt to new circumstances wrought by climate change, with flooding a particular area of concern. This is most clearly visible at the local level, where multiple pressures arise from the twin challenges of increasing housing supply and mitigating flood risk.
As such, development on flood risk areas sits at the intersection of the housing and climate crises. This challenge is hugely important for planners and other built environment professionals – and of course the planet. Equally important are the skills that are needed to respond to this resilience challenge.
The Kent School of Architecture and Planning, which runs the only planning and resilience programme in the south east, is uniquely placed to help and enable Kent’s local authorities to respond.
‘Local government is key to deliver resilience solutions at the local level. We see it here in the response to the flooding challenge and we saw it at COP26 in Glasgow,’ says Professor Bagaeen. ‘Those making the decisions need sufficient clarity about their role in the decarbonisation agenda. We at the University of Kent equip them with the skills to make those decisions to minimise disruption to their communities then infrastructure fails.’ Professor Bagaeen, is Professor of Planning & Resilient Systems and Programme Director for Kent’s MA Urban Planning and Resilience. He is a global expert in this field, and has worked alongside ministers, practitioners and the broader community helping equip forward-thinking communities and leaders with the tools to welcome growth, manage projects, strengthen infrastructure, and forward plan.
Professor Bagaeen, is professor of Planning & Resilient Systems and Programme Director for Kent’s MA Urban Planning and Resilience. He is a global expert in this field, and has worked alongside ministers, practitioners and the broader community helping equip forward-thinking communities and leaders with the tools to welcome growth, manage projects, strengthen infrastructure, and forward plan.