Scale-dependent synergy between risk management and open space preservation

In planning processes, we employ various morphological planning concepts that deal with how to divide urban land use and open space (green belt, green wedge, infill, compact city, ecological corridor). Although with such concepts we can envisage some geographical pattern, it is often not clear on what geographical scale this pattern should emerge. The issue of scale, however, is crucial to the way in which such a concept can actually be implemented; planning is interaction between people, and people have limited territorial attachment. Therefore, the scale on which a concept is implemented defines how many and what type of actors are relevant. For application on a higher level of scale (regional or national), the network of relevant actors becomes quite complex and hard to influence. Risk perception, in cases of large scale projection of a morphological concept may be a blessing because of its unifying effect. Within a context of risk management, relatively little contested strategies can be generated, unlike in case of pursuing sectoral ambitions. And a high risk could mean not developing the land at that location, synchronising ambitions for open space with risk management may yield synergy. This paper explores the potential for synergy between flood risk and open space preservation on a high level of scale in the Dutch context. It aims to illustrate and conceptualise this synergy by interlinking the concepts of scale, actor network and convergence of interests.