A CASE STUDY OF FLOOD RISK MANAGEMENT IN COASTAL RESORT DEVELOPMENT

Abstract

The severity of coastal flood damages is becoming prominent especially with rising trend of climate change and rapid expansion of coastal development. Coastal resort is no exception to the destructive impact of seasonal flooding. Hence, this dissertation serves as a case study on how coastal flood risk management framework is applied in resort development. The framework used in this study focuses on the company’s business strategy, coastal flood risk assessment and development of mitigation measures during the project planning stage. The exploratory case study is used in this study to investigate how resort developer manages the coastal flood risk. The aim of this study is not to generalize but rather provide a more specific flood risk management framework tailored to particular company and site development. Data are collected using methods such as interviews, consultations and documentary evidence. The main findings are that, firstly, hydro-metrological hazard risk is often overlooked in the site selection process. Secondly, resort developers do not have a specific framework on coastal flood risk management. Thirdly, as direct and indirect flood risks are not clearly identified in the planning process, the mitigation measures may not be effective. Clearly, there is a potential for coastal flood risk management to be implemented in luxury resort development. This requires the involvement of risk management, project team and local government at the planning stage. Resort developers might not have extensive experience in managing coastal flood risks. However, as it builds more coastal resorts in new region, there will be an increasing need to understand the coastal flood risk management.