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Strategic land use planning assumes a pivotal role in flood risk management. By using formal instruments, spatial planning can (i) legally secure areas for flood retention or other flood protection measures (hazard reduction) as well as (ii) regulate settlement development in hazard areas and ensure flood-adapted land uses (damage prevention). The interrelations between upstream and downstream riparian areas in flood risk management, however, require regional or catchment-oriented approaches in strategic land use planning to better coordinate land development options along rivers. This paper examines two strategic planning instruments in Austrian flood risk management. The two instruments – Blauzone Rheintal in Vorarlberg and Schutzwasserwirtschaftlicher Raumentwicklungsplan (SREP) in Carinthia – were developed by water authorities and spatial planning departments to prevent settlement growth …