AKUT Incentive Systems for Municipal Flood Prevention

What can the tool do? As part of the project“Incentive Systems for Municipal Flood Prevention,”which focuses specifically on rural areas, a consulting tool was developed in collaboration with municipalities, universities, and users. Measures and their effects are presented in a simplified manner and contextualized in relation to the relevant stakeholders. As a result, municipalities are provided with a recommended optimized action plan for heavy rainfall risk management. The mathematical algorithm developed—based on game theory—determines an optimal action strategy from a wide range of possible measures, taking into account the location-specific conditions of a municipality and the willingness of various stakeholders to participate. The AKUT advisory tool

• the interplay of measures can be presented in a simplified manner,
• the potential for participation by the various stakeholders can be identified and specifically promoted,
• and strengthen the understanding of heavy rain preparedness as a shared responsibility.

The AKUT advisory tool was developed for municipal staff and planning experts to analyze municipalities in rural areas. Topographic data (raster data) and data from the real estate cadastre (ALKIS®) are imported as input for the advisory tool to determine a load-dependent, building- and stakeholder-specific assessment of the need for action regarding flood protection. Stakeholders (e.g., private individuals, businesses, agriculture, and forestry) are assigned on a property-by-property basis using information from ALKIS®. Based on the identified risk scenarios, the tool allows potential measures for stormwater retention, drainage, or property protection to be entered with precise location data and assigned corresponding costs. For stakeholders, the willingness to cooperate—that is, the probability that individual stakeholders or stakeholder groups will actually implement a measure—can be specified. Incentives can be used to increase this willingness to cooperate. The modeling of the measures and their effects takes place within a mathematical optimization calculation. As a result of the mathematical optimization, the entered measures that result in an optimal concept for achieving flood protection are combined, and the resulting load-dependent water levels are calculated. Users can specify different preferences for the solution, such as a budget for structural measures, individual assessments of hazard and risk classes, or the willingness to use additional incentives to persuade stakeholders. As a result, the optimized action plan contains a combination of structural measures—including the associated costs and the necessary incentives—in accordance with the specified preferences. The map visualizations before and after optimization clearly illustrate the effect of the combination of measures on the hazard situation and the need for action.

The AKUT advisory tool is available to interested municipalities and professional planners. If you are interested in using the AKUT advisory tool, please contact info-akut (at) hs-mainz.de.

The AKUT advisory tool integrates the onmaps map service provided by geoGLIS GmbH & Co. KG. The onmaps map service is based on official geodata and, in addition to high-resolution topographic content, includes information from the German Real Estate Cadastre. Users of the AKUT advisory tool thus receive accurate and comprehensive information about the local conditions of their study area.