FLOODRANGER

FloodRanger is an innovative tool for helping people to understand the trade-offs and uncertainties surrounding the management of flood risk in the UK over the next century.

FloodRanger is a flood simulator - a kind of scientific SimCity - that puts the player in control of a piece of UK coastline. It makes players take the tough decisions and then face the consequences. They have to decide where to build and what to defend, they must create jobs and houses, and they must face the real uncertainties about what climate change will mean for the type and quantity of flooding that their area will experience. At each step, they get new information about the levels of economic growth and the extent of flood damage, so they can adapt their strategies as the future unfolds.

The simulator has been designed to inform understanding of and debate about the underlying factors affecting risk from flooding. It does this by exploring and illustrating, at a generic level, the possible societal, environmental and economic impacts of decisions made now and in the decades to come.

Flood Ranger is aimed at people with no specialist background in flood management but who have an interest in gaining a better understanding of the interplay of the factors that will affect future flood risk. For example, people involved in development and planning, education and infrastructure management.

Foresight has worked with Discovery Software Ltd and View the World Ltd to develop a "proof of concept" version of the Flood Ranger software. Future versions may be adapted for particular uses.

Background:

Flood Ranger is one of the outcomes of the Office of Science and Technology's (OST) Foresight Flood and Coastal Defence (FCD) project.

The OST identified flooding and coastal erosion as a key future challenge to UK society that the Foresight programme should help address. Today in England and Wales some ˆ£200 billion of assets and 1.7 million households are located in flood risk areas. Current policy reduces risk considerably, however, we cannot be complacent, since the clear indications are that flood risk will increase over time as a result of climate change and other changes in society.

In recognition of this, the OST set up the FCD project to help identify how future science and technologies might help define and meet this challenge. Foresight's FCD project is producing long-term (30-100 year) vision for the future of UK flood and coastal defence which is robust and can be used as a basis to inform policy, and its delivery. This vision will be challenging and independent.

The project reported its first findings in June 2003 and expects to make its final report in April 2004. Further information about this and other Foresight projects at www.foresight.gov.uk.

Copies of FloodRanger are available and further information about the developers can be found at www.discoverysoftware.co.uk