Managing multiple risks in land use planning – a literature review

Many risks addressed in land use planning, such as flooding and accidents involving hazardous materials, have widely different characteristics which makes them difficult to compare. Yet, these risks sometimes need to be considered together in order to support decision-making. Furthermore, risks can sometimes affect each other, which differentiate the land use planning context from situations where single risks are addressed. This literature review investigates what characterize the methods proposed in the scientific literature that deal with the challenges of multiple risks and interests in land use planning, and to what extent they are applicable for Swedish detailed development plans. None of the identified methods could consider several types of consequences, or other interests, while at the same time compare risk levels between areas and evaluate acceptability. Neither were there any suggestions on how to consider interactions between risks in a way that was applicable to Swedish land use planning. All articles were aimed at proposing methodologies for assessing risk or hazards and there was little emphasis on how an assessment, or several assessments, should be implemented in a decision-making context. There is need for further studies on how multiple risks are managed in practice and what could be learned from other fields.