Flood Resilience - do we sink or do we swim?
I was thrilled to be asked to join a panel on Flooding and resilience hosted by Fathom and New Civil Engineer earlier this month. Chaired by Gavin Pearson of NCE, fellow panellists included some hugely experienced and learned industry peers from our industry.
In grappling with flood prediction and response, we agreed that is is critical to understand the data and its flaws and to evolve accurate models that can deal with uncertainty, particularly around the impact of climate change. We need to understand natural and human systems. Scenario analysis is key to building in resilience in a proactive way and is also key to parametric insurance that can enable financial investment and aid the transition to a more sustainable economy. We need data to inform how and where to build things and indeed, when not to build anything, but grow and nurture. How to deploy capital, insure assets and make delivery viable. We need deep specialist expertise in all areas. We also need big picture thinkers to join up the dots and look for strategic opportunities to build in resilience and maximise wider benefits to stakeholders, including communities and investors. Without money coming in and tangible payback to communities and investors we are up *the creek without a paddle...
I enjoyed the panel discussion as I learned a great deal from those mind-numbingly knowledgeable about digital solutions, AI and complex engineering. We absolutely need all those skills to tackle this wicked problem. What I could usefully add was my perspective of how we integrate technical analysis and delivery of development projects in a multi-layered context of people, politics, power (human and energy), policy, protection (of our natural environment) and progress (economic growth and reduced inequality). Alliteration aside, being able to join the dots in a practical way and see a route through the quagmire of regulation, consenting regimes, stakeholder engagement, commercial objectives and corporate commitments is essential if we are to deploy, effectively, the huge brains and knowledge of our talented engineers and tech pros.
In my mind it’s not “either/or”. We don’t need a nature based solution or an engineered solution. We don’t need strategists or deeply technical scientists. We don’t need strong analytical skills or strong communication skills. We need all of us. We need to collaborate, stronger than ever to build the best teams to drive change and adapt fast. Adaptation that makes sense for the triple bottom line, has tangible benefits for as many stakeholders as possible and if we can tackle emissions reduction at the same time, all the better.
The term "systems thinking" is banded around all the time these days. I haven’t come up with anything new here. I do think however that we could all do better at walking the talk and working together. Consultants, regulators, investors, clients, academia and local authorities. We all need to take responsibility to think outside the box:
Have we got the right people on our team?
Would we benefit from some fresh thinking?
Can we bridge divides and collaborate better?
So, to answer my question: do we sink or do we swim. Neither. We need to work together and build a raft.