Smart Solutions for Municipal Flood Management: Overview of Literature, Trends, and Applications in German Cities

Abstract

The paper outlines the challenges municipalities face when it comes to dealing with flood disasters and identifies general concepts for smart solutions that address the challenges and help cities to improve their flood resilience. It follows a unique and novel transdisciplinary approach in that it condenses the scientific literature to the most salient concepts in the fields of big data, digital twins, and remote sensing and support. As for big data applications, their main improvement to conventional flood management stems from the integration of different data streams to improve situational awareness. Digital twins not only help to improve the speed and quality of management decisions by visualizing complex data in a simple and accessible way during a disaster; they can also simulate the evolution of a disaster while taking into account the unique characteristics and conditions of a city, thereby acting as a critical element of an early warning system. Remote sensing and support with UAV solve the problem of physical and informational access to a disaster zone. In conclusion, the paper shows that smart solutions can be of great benefit for flood management, and that cities should strive to enhance existing infrastructure and processes with digital technologies. ----------------- Das Paper beschreibt die Herausforderungen, mit denen Kommunen bei der Bewältigung von Hochwasserkatastrophen konfrontiert sind. Es identifiziert allgemeine Konzepte für intelligente Lösungen, die dazu beitragen können, die Widerstandsfähigkeit von Städten gegenüber Hochwasser zu verbessern. Der Ansatz des Papers ist, die wissenschaftliche Literatur zu den wichtigsten Konzepten in den Bereichen Big Data, digitale Zwillinge sowie Fernerkundung und -unterstützung (Remote Sensing) zusammenzuführen. Zusammenfassend betont das Paper die Bedeutung von intelligenten Lösungen im Hochwassermanagement und schlägt vor, dass Städte ihre bestehenden Infrastrukturen und Prozesse mit digitalen Technologien verbessern sollten.