
Coastal floods are one of the deadliest and costliest of natural hazards, triggering or contributing to economic disruption, displacement, (mental) health implications, environmental disasters, poverty traps, and geomorphic change. In the coming century, coastal communities are projected to face increases in coastal flood risk. To prevent this increase in coastal flood risk, or even reduce risk below today’s levels, adaptation strategies are necessary. To make informed decisions on what measures to take, it is important to better understand the effectiveness of such coastal flood risk adaptation strategies, preferably beyond just monetary terms. Therefore, the overall aim of this thesis is to disentangle drivers of coastal flood risk and assess costs and benefits of adaptation strategies. By doing so, the thesis improves upon conventional flood risk assessments by taking steps into the direction of integrated and holistic assessments that include Nature-based Solutions and valuing of adaptation beyond monetary terms.