Project description

Site Visit August 30th 2019 in Krems, Austria

This selected site visit focused on „Flood protection in Krems”, thereby zooming in on disaster prevention and preparedness in Danube University’s immediate neighborhood.

The program started with an introductory presentation by civil engineer and senior bureacrat Paul Seitz on the political, legal & organisational framework of flood water protection in Krems and the surrounding Wachau valley. This part of Danube river has frequently witnessed severe flooding, including two major such events in 1991 and 2002. Alarmed by the increasing frequency and scale of floods, local, regional and national authorities jointly conceived an holistic adaptation plan, comprising, besides other measures, the deployment of a mobile protection scheme, which can be mounted along the banks of the river depending on water levels.

Consequently, Gerhard Urschler, commander-in-chief of the local fire brigade, introduced BReCom team members to the work of volunteer fire fighters in handling this protective devices in case of emergency and explained in detailed all logistics involved this endeavour.

Equiped with this background knowledge, participants took to cycling along the river to see firsthand where mobile protection elements are placed when elevated water levels and weather forecast recommend the appliance of the mobile protection walls.

Mock ups of these walls could be studied consequently during a visit to the fire brigade‘s headquaters. Rain water management. The reminder of the site visit was dedicated to a rapid assessment of rainwater management on the university’s Campus Krems with ecologist Dr. Christine Rottenbacher who introduced BReUCom team members to a newly developed assessment tool which participants tested hands-on.

© DUK

© DUK

Site Visit October 26th 2019 in Vienna, Austria

As an add-on to the BReUCom symposium on 'Lessons learnt from European Informality‘ (held on Oct 23/ 24, 2019 in Krems, Austria) architects and art hisorians Friedrich Hauer and Andre Kramer gave a preparatory lecture on these historical informalities in the Austrian capital before venturing out the next day with the BReUCom team members to experience one of these formerly contested city spaces in situ.

The tour took the group around Bruckhaufen, nowadays a pretty ordinary residential district near Danube River. While currently experiencing considerable real estate development due to its proximity to the United Nations’ Viennese headquarters, the settlement has historically started as a contested “wild” district, which underwent subsequent consolidation.

© DUK

© DUK

Site Visit February 26th - 28th 2020 in Enschede, The Netherlands

The main objective of the site visits in the Netherlands was to know more about EU best practice examples in (community led) climate change adaptation strategies. This helped in improving the understanding on issues of urban resilience through onsite inspection and discussion.

Intensive discussions during the site visits clarified how European experiences in these topics can be understood in Indian historic and socio-economic context, and what aspects might be transferable.

As part of the programme, the BREUCOM partners visited the municipalities of Zwolle and Enschede to see the works done on climate change and the UT Campus for a sustainability walk. Furthermore there was a panel discussion with 120 ITC students of the course ‘Global Challenges, Local Action’.

© ITC

© ITC