Dry-stone walls are formed by carefully stacking blocks of stone rubble, without the use of mortar. Found throughout the world, dry-stone walls form the distinctive character of many areas of the UK, including the Cotswolds, Peak District and Lake District. Dry-stone retaining walls are engineering structures used to support road, railway and canal cuttings and embankments. The walls are commonly about 0.6m thick and are comprised of a bonded masonry face with stacked rubble stone behind. They were mostly built during the 19th and early 20th centuries. There are about 9000 km of these walls along the UK road network alone, having an estimated replacement value in excess of 1 billion. Though the ageing stock of walls is still performing very well, their deteriorating condition and occasional sudden collapse is a major problem for highway maintenance authorities.There is uncertainty about how these walls actually behave under load and what the factors of safety against collapse are. This current lack of understanding of real collapse mechanisms including three-dimensional effects, combined with the factors of safety required by modern design codes and uncertainties over design parameters such as soil properties, wall dimensions, groundwater conditions and loading, leads to the unnecessary replacement of satisfactory walls and the failure to identify walls that are in danger of imminent collapse.Even though dry-stone walls have distinct advantages over more modern earth retention methods (such as the use of local materials combined with a free-draining and flexible structure), the engineering uncertainties are such that new and replacement construction is rarely in dry-stone masonry. The unnecessary replacement of satisfactory walls, often by concrete structures, results in high costs associated with construction, traffic disruption, increased risk of damage to property or life, and potentially adverse environmental impacts. The current lack of understanding of the real mechanisms of dry-stone retaining wall behaviour is perhaps unsurprising given that no significant experimental investigation of dry-stone retaining walls has been carried out since a limited study undertaken over 170 years ago. The resulting lack of direct quantitative data concerning dry-stone retaining wall behaviour is not only a problem in its own right, but has also hampered validation of modern computer-based numerical analyses.Increased use of dry-stone walling for repairs and new construction, and prolonging the service life of the existing stock, can only happen with a proper, validated, theoretically based understanding of how these structures work, and the development of suitable design methods that are applicable in the modern engineering environment. The two main areas of uncertainty currently hindering the efficient and accurate assessment of dry-stone retaining walls are bulging and wall thickness. The objective of the proposed research is to develop a greater understanding of these two key issues by means of an experimental study combined with parametric three-dimensional discrete element analyses, and the further development of limit equilibrium analysis methods for the design and analysis of existing dry-stone retaining walls.

It is well known in the research /policy literature that there is a large gap between public awareness of flood risk, and the move towards preparedness and action. This KE project will explore how the research outcomes of the ESRC Sustainable flood memory project can be materialised and cascaded in communities and to FRM stakeholders by developing community-generated digital storytelling (CDS) practice. This ESRC knowledge exchange project will involve close co-working between the original interdisciplinary project team, and the national lead in FRM, the EA, for mutual knowledge exchange and increased impact. The ESRC Sustainable Flood Memory research project has been exploring concept of sustainable flood memory (SFM) and its links to lay knowledges and social learning for community resilience. SFM has been conceived as an approach to memory work that is community focused, archival, integrating individual and collective experiences, involving inter- and intra-generational communication and strategies for its future. Such memory incorporates watery senses of place, folk memory of flooding and flood heritage. The original ESRC Sustainable Flood Memory project has involved semi-structured interviews in three different floodplain groups, with different prior flood experience, socio-economic setting and including an urban/rural contrast. This is generating diverse thematic areas for exploration including discourses around preparedness, coping strategies and approaches to increasing resilience. The project has generated a large archive of flood narrative and materialisation (60 extended audio recordings and transcripts; photographs; media cuttings etc.). It will draw on the original research experience and its resources to explore how an approach of using community-generated and owned digital stories (CDS; 3-7 minutes audio with accompanying images) for knowledge exchange can inform how lay flood knowledge is shared, and how it can be used to build preparedness in communities. The KE process will allow a fresh exploration of strategies for social learning/ transformative learning that are vital components of flood risk planning for community preparedness, both for communities themselves and for other FRM stakeholders (like Local Authorities, Rural Community Councils etc.). The project's design will initially involve sharing/exchanging knowledge around the CDS with other flood risk communities in the lower Severn catchment. The Environment Agency has proposed Gloucester as a setting for this work as it is already going to carry out community engagement work there (two year project) related to a new flood warning area. The ESRC KE project will then trial the CDS as interventions for learning in new catchments distinct from the lower Severn catchment that are either similar and different hydrologically. The case study areas for these knowledge exchanges will be selected to be catchments where the Environment Agency is already carrying out strategic work (e.g. national programme of work on 'rapid response catchments' in SW region). All learnings gained from co-working and sharing digital stories will be shared nationally within the Environment Agency through online workshops. The project will therefore contribute to defining new active participatory approaches to engagement by the Environment Agency (and other FRM agencies) responsible for increasing community resilience to risk. The impact of the KE project will be high in policy, process and practical terms, in regional, national and international contexts that focus on increasing adaptive capacity and post flood learning - both neglected areas in flood education. This is important in the organisational and community capacity/ capability building required for the ownership of distributed approaches to residual flood risk management that devolves increased responsibility to floodplain groups/communities in dealing with residual flood risk.

Dry-stone walls are formed by carefully stacking blocks of stone rubble, without the use of mortar. Found throughout the world, dry-stone walls form the distinctive character of many areas of the UK, including the Cotswolds, Peak District and Lake District. Dry-stone retaining walls are engineering structures used to support road, railway and canal cuttings and embankments. The walls are commonly about 0.6m thick and are comprised of a bonded masonry face with stacked rubble stone behind. They were mostly built during the 19th and early 20th centuries. There are about 9000 km of these walls along the UK road network alone, having an estimated replacement value in excess of 1 billion. Though the ageing stock of walls is still performing very well, their deteriorating condition and occasional sudden collapse is a major problem for highway maintenance authorities.There is uncertainty about how these walls actually behave under load and what the factors of safety against collapse are. This current lack of understanding of real collapse mechanisms including three-dimensional effects, combined with the factors of safety required by modern design codes and uncertainties over design parameters such as soil properties, wall dimensions, groundwater conditions and loading, leads to the unnecessary replacement of satisfactory walls and the failure to identify walls that are in danger of imminent collapse.Even though dry-stone walls have distinct advantages over more modern earth retention methods (such as the use of local materials combined with a free-draining and flexible structure), the engineering uncertainties are such that new and replacement construction is rarely in dry-stone masonry. The unnecessary replacement of satisfactory walls, often by concrete structures, results in high costs associated with construction, traffic disruption, increased risk of damage to property or life, and potentially adverse environmental impacts. The current lack of understanding of the real mechanisms of dry-stone retaining wall behaviour is perhaps unsurprising given that no significant experimental investigation of dry-stone retaining walls has been carried out since a limited study undertaken over 170 years ago. The resulting lack of direct quantitative data concerning dry-stone retaining wall behaviour is not only a problem in its own right, but has also hampered validation of modern computer-based numerical analyses.Increased use of dry-stone walling for repairs and new construction, and prolonging the service life of the existing stock, can only happen with a proper, validated, theoretically based understanding of how these structures work, and the development of suitable design methods that are applicable in the modern engineering environment. The two main areas of uncertainty currently hindering the efficient and accurate assessment of dry-stone retaining walls are bulging and wall thickness. The objective of the proposed research is to develop a greater understanding of these two key issues by means of an experimental study combined with parametric three-dimensional discrete element analyses, and the further development of limit equilibrium analysis methods for the design and analysis of existing dry-stone retaining walls.

Mutually beneficial relations along rural – peri-urban – urban trajectories can contribute substantially to Europe’s smart, sustainable and inclusive growth agenda. Success in creating synergies is largely determined by decisions made at local and regional levels. Well-designed governance arrangements can be conducive to decisions that strengthen beneficial relations between rural and urban areas. Central to ROBUST is a place-based case study approach in which the case studies focus on thematic functional linkages cutting across rural-urban areas. The content and governance of these functional linkages are analyzed in diverse case study areas that represent the main types of rural – peri-urban – urban settings across Europe. ROBUST will identify and strengthen policies, governance systems and practices that can contribute more effectively to smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. Particular attention will be paid to the capacities of municipal and regional governments, the related administrations and other stakeholders to deliver and enhance mutually beneficial relations. ROBUST aims to provide practice-oriented information about successful governance models applicable to different settings as well as related communication and training material. In ROBUST, the questions and research needs of practice partners will guide the research process. Researchers will support the related multi-actor consultations through data collection and analysis, by providing suitable platforms and through facilitation. The insights co-generated by research and practice partners and stakeholders will be translated into tools, including scenario development, as well as training materials and capacity building measures. ROBUST will in this way contribute to a better understanding of rural-urban interactions, and it will at the same time enhance the capacity of relevant actors and institutions to foster mutually beneficial relations along rural – peri-urban – urban trajectories.