water resources management invariably involves conflicting stakeholder interests. Our collaborative modelling approaches aim to incorporate accepted, factual information generated by the developed models to support interest-based negotiations between stakeholders.
During the Dutch Delta Programme Rivers, central government, provincial, municipal and water board representatives cooperated together in formulating an adaptive, long-term flood risk management strategy for riverine areas. Social organisations and the business community also had opportunities to provide input. Stakeholders were brought together to design and assess a large variety of dike reinforcement and spatial measures, the latter which prioritised giving back ‘room to the river ’. Many of these spatial measures involved land use changes, decisions about which were inherently political. A collaborative modelling approach was proposed that combined structured stakeholder participation in various discussion and negotiation forums, supported by a simple, fast modelling tool: the Planning Kit (in Dutch: Blokkendoos). The Planning Kit provided stakeholders with a quick and effective means to visually analyse and assess flood protection and other impacts for the many spatial measures to be considered during negotiations over the preferred strategy.
