It is 2050. Global warming means the sea water is several decimetres higher than before humans released large amounts of CO2 into the atmosphere. A north-westerly storm pushes the water from the North Sea southwards towards the Western Scheldt. During high tide, the waves crash over Vlissingen's boulevard. The seawater flows through Coosje Buskenstraat into the lower city centre.
However, it will never reach there. The bulge of the street pushes the water aside, where partitions cause it to meander and thus lose its energy. Slowly, the seawater flows into the Spuikom to be collected. The inner city keeps dry feet. This example of adaptation to a changing climate, or climate adaptation, which the municipality of Vlissingen has now applied, is one of the outcomes of the Sustainable and Resilient Coastal Cities (SARCC) project, in which the Resilient Deltas lectorate participated.
For HZ researcher Flavia Simona Cosoveanu, working in the Resilient Deltas lectorate, SARCC and similar projects are study material for her PhD research. The projects she is researching experiment with new measures for coastal areas. The central question she hopes to answer is how these experiments can steer coastal management more towards climate adaptation.
The latter is necessary because, according to the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), coastal areas are extremely vulnerable to the effects of climate change, such as sea level rise, extreme weather and freshwater shortages. Zeeland, for example, experienced periods of drought and water shortages in 2018, 2019 and 2022. Coastal areas are complex systems where nature, economic activities (ports and industry), tourism, agriculture and urbanisation come together. Coastal areas are often very densely populated; in Europe, half of the people live less than 50 km from the sea. Meeting current and future challenges in such a complex system requires policy and management, also referred to as governance, involving all actors, government, residents, businesses and civil society organisations.
HZ Discovery asked Flavia about the progress of her PhD research.
A successful pilot must be in line with current policy, so that the result can be included in it, but it must also contain an innovative element to improve the policy.
How did you arrive at the question statement to investigate the impact of policy experiments and pilot projects on the governance of coastal regions?
"In my research, a pilot project is considered a policy experiment. The international and national projects in which the professorship participated and I had a role were localised in coastal areas and related to governance and climate adaptation, so that choice is obvious. A project has a certain duration and ends with the delivery of a report, containing a developed proposal, design or evaluation. I wanted to go further and see what effect a pilot project has on the different levels of governance. Does a project lead to new collaborations, change of practices or even a change of policy, those kinds of questions. And that mainly in the field of flood protection in coastal areas."
Do you have an example of an experiment that led to a different policy?
“A green dike has been constructed between the boulevard and the beach at Middelkerke in Belgium, planted with beach grass to retain the blowing sand. The dike has a more natural appearance than the traditional paved dike and is integrated into the design of the boulevard, which gives residents and visitors a very pleasant experience. This successful pilot was part of the SARCC project, is included in the Belgian coastal vision for the year 2100 and serves as an example for other places on the Belgian coast to adapt to future sea level rise.”
A successful pilot does not always lead to imitation or changed policy. The redevelopment of the Coosje Buskenstraat in Vlissingen described in the introduction, which can safely drain the waves that wash over the dike, has not been followed elsewhere. And this while there are more places like Vlissingen with a boulevard where raising the dike is not possible. According to Flavia, the difficulty is that residents have to be included in the plans. This is an intensive process and was successfully completed in Vlissingen.
One of the projects you researched and the lectorate participated in was FRAMES. What was the outcome of the project?
“FRAMES focused on multi-layered safety (see box below). Many different actors are involved, such as water boards, municipalities, companies, residents, and sometimes the national government. In two sub-projects, I looked at the extent to which the project promoted the formation of a network of actors and the capacity of the network to ensure this multi-layered safety. This involves financial resources, knowledge about specific measures for climate adaptation, employees with the right skills and knowledge, but also policy and legislation. You should also think about setting up a public campaign to inform citizens about how they can prepare for a possible flood.
In the FRAMES project, participants from the different countries learned from each other. In Belgium and the Netherlands, for example, citizens are less involved in policy than in England, where they participate in coastal management in an organised manner. In my opinion, the latter deserves to be followed. The sub-project in the Alblasserwaard has produced a plan in which all parties know what to do if the polder actually floods. And there has also been practice with the scenario. The companies in the Alblasserwaard also became aware of the risks of flooding and were interested in joining the network.”
Multi Layer Safety (MLS) or multi-layered safety is a policy strategy that focuses on a broad approach to water safety. The first layer is traditional prevention in the form of dikes and dams. The second layer is adaptation, for example by creating buffers, floating houses or not building in low-lying areas. The third layer concerns the adequate response in the event of a disaster or flood. And finally, the fourth layer concerns resilience to recover after a flood.
The third and final project is called Aquaconnect and is not about water safety but about the availability of fresh water. How do the participants of this project work on sustainable use of water?
“The Aquaconnect project is still ongoing and will end in 2026. As the name suggests, the project creates connections, in this case between parties with scientific knowledge about freshwater management and the users of freshwater, in other words, connecting knowledge and practice. I am involved in the sub-study in Zeeuws Vlaanderen, where a group of actors has been working together for more than ten years to improve the management of freshwater for industry, agriculture and nature. People want to use water more efficiently, but there is no clear long-term vision on how to do this in light of climate change. During the project, the actors met each other more formally in the four workshops that I organised, instead of the informal contacts that already existed.
In addition, experiments were conducted, such as the use of effluent from a water treatment plant for industry or the storage of rainwater in the soil during the winter for use in the summer. The question for my PhD research was how the actors in this network can work together better and how they can use the experiments in the transition to sustainable water use.”
What is the final conclusion of your research, are the policy experiments able to bring about change in the governance of coastal areas with regard to climate adaptation?
“Yes, that is certainly the case. If a pilot is successful, the effect extends beyond the location or region of the pilot. A successful pilot must be in line with current policy, so that the result can be included in it, but it must also contain an innovative element to improve the policy. It is also important that a successful pilot is extended with a follow-up in which the experiences of the first pilot are used for improvements or is expanded by starting a pilot in other areas.”
Biography
Flavia Simona Cosoveanu was born in Romania and moved to Spain at the age of twelve, where she finished high school and obtained a bachelor's degree in environmental science at the Universidad de Alcalá. In 2014, she came to the Netherlands to study for a master's degree in International Land and Water Management at Wageningen University. After that, she worked for two years as a teaching assistant at WUR and simultaneously at a small engineering firm. In 2018, she was hired as a researcher at the Resilient Deltas lectorate of HZ. In 2026, she hopes to obtain her PhD at WUR under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Dave Huitema. Her co-supervisor is Dr. Jean-Marie Buijs from the Resilient Deltas lectorate.
Resilient Deltas
The Resilient Deltas lectorate conducts practice-oriented research on how to design a delta region as safe as possible and how to use the power of society, government and business to create a vital, resilient delta.
Read more about the lectorate