Land Use in Flood-Prone Areas and Its Significance for Flood Risk Management—A Case Study of Alpine Regions in Austria

Lena Junger, Severin Hohensinner, Karin Schroll, Klaus Wagner and Walter Seher
Additional contact information
Lena Junger: Institute of Spatial Planning, Environmental Planning and Land Rearrangement, Department of Landscape, Spatial and Infrastructure Sciences, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, 1190 Vienna, Austria
Severin Hohensinner: Institute of Hydrobiology and Aquatic Ecosystem Management, Department of Water, Atmosphere and Environment, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, 1180 Vienna, Austria
Karin Schroll: Federal Institute of Agricultural Economics, Rural and Mountain Research, 1030 Vienna, Austria
Klaus Wagner: Federal Institute of Agricultural Economics, Rural and Mountain Research, 1030 Vienna, Austria
Walter Seher: Institute of Spatial Planning, Environmental Planning and Land Rearrangement, Department of Landscape, Spatial and Infrastructure Sciences, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, 1190 Vienna, Austria

Land, 2022, vol. 11, issue 3, 1-16

Abstract: Increasing flood damage has led to a rising importance of land use in flood risk management policies, commonly referred to as the spatial turn in flood risk management. This includes policies aiming at making space for rivers, which, in practice, lead to an increasing demand for land. Although research has been conducted on the variety of policies, the resulting land use conflicts in flood-prone areas have not been paid much attention to. This paper therefore analyses the current land use and its changes in Alpine flood-prone areas in Austria. The results show that space for rivers has been decreasing due to human activities (e.g., river straightening and channel narrowing) since the middle of the 19th century, and settlements have been expanding into flood-prone areas. Furthermore, the share of valuable agricultural land (which is important for food production) located in flood hazard zones is higher in more mountainous areas. Given the limited space for permanent settlement in Alpine regions, these land use changes exert pressure on the availability of land suitable for flood risk management. Therefore, making space for rivers as part of flood risk management policies faces considerable restrictions in Alpine areas.

Keywords: flood risk; land use; settlement development; agricultural land use; flood-prone areas; Alpine regions (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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