Conference Description:

*FRIAR 2020 Status Update*

Please note that following the recent events on the Coronavirus pandemic and with the main objective to preserve the well being of our delegates, WIT has decided to postpone the FRIAR 2020 conference until after the summer break. The conference was due to be held 11-13 May 2020 in Valencia, Spain and will now be held 28-30 September 2020 in Valencia, Spain.

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FRIAR 2020 is the seventh conference of this successful series. The conference started at the Institution of Civil Engineers in London 2008 and was reconvened in Milan in 2010, Dubrovnik in 2012, Poznan in 2014, Venice in 2016 and A Coruna 2018. Since 2012 a parallel seminar on the Design, Construction, Maintenance, Monitoring and Control of Urban Water has taken place which is now an integral part of the conference.

The meeting is aimed to attract researchers, academics and practitioners actively involved in improving our understanding of urban water systems and flood events.

Flooding is a global phenomenon that claims numerous lives worldwide each year. Apart from the physical damage to buildings, contents and loss of life, which are the most obvious, impacts of floods upon households, other more indirect losses are often overlooked. These indirect and intangible impacts are generally associated with disruption to normal life as well as longer term health issues including community displacements and stress related illnesses. Flooding represents a major barrier to the alleviation of poverty in many parts of the developing world, where vulnerable communities are often exposed to sudden and life threatening events.