The complex interactions between floods and society are currently being investigated at TU Wien. The economy needs the central government to organise flood protection.
We have an impact on water - through dams, regulations and agriculture. And the risk of flooding affects us and our economic decisions. The complicated interplay of these factors is being investigated at TU Wien.
The mathematical economist Johanna Grames has developed conceptual models to describe economic decisions for long-term flood protection strategies. Private businesses should not shoulder the responsibility for flood protection alone. In prosperous countries in particular, it makes sense for central government to establish the necessary infrastructure for flood protection.
“The field of hydrology has been investigating the impact of agriculture and building work on the risk of flooding for decades,” says Johanna Grames. “But research on the two-way interactions between water systems and society is an extremely young field of research.” Implementing these interactions is important to make the right decisions in the long term: How do people behave if flood risk decreases as a result of dams? Should capital-intensive businesses be located in flood risk areas and increase flood protection, or should they be (re)located to areas that are less vulnerable to flooding?
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