Urban flooding restructures mobility through coupled behavioral and network disruption
A systematic review of evidence
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 19486607 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Alireza Ermagun (0000-0002-2820-5724, George Mason University, corresponding author), Fatemeh Janatabadi (George Mason University), Zahra Safarloo (University of Tehran), Peleg Kremer (0000-0001-6844-5557, Villanova University), Sarah Lindley (0000-0003-0581-4284, University of Manchester) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Volume | 141 |
| Pages | 107285 |
| Publication date | 2026-05-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Sustainable Cities and Society (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2210-6707 • E-ISSN: 2210-6715 |
| Publisher | Elsevier BV (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1016/j.scs.2026.107285 |
| OpenAlex | W7134111027 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 71 |
Behavioral adaptations follow a sequenced shift from retiming to rerouting to cancellation. • System performance degrades in parallel through slower speeds, higher VHT, and detours. • Flood, built-environment, and trip factors jointly structure mobility disruption. • Mobility losses are uneven across groups, modes, and activity types. • Integrated individual-system evidence remains limited across the literature. This systematic review synthesizes 61 peer-reviewed studies to clarify how urban flooding jointly reshapes travel behavior and transport system performance, and how these coupled changes evolve through feedback between traveler decisions and network disruption. The inquiry is motivated by the convergence of extreme rainfall and rapid urbanization, a combination that accelerates runoff, heightens exposure, and places sustained pressure on urban mobility. Three findings emerge. First, flood-induced mobility disruption unfolds as a sequenced and time-dependent process in which behavioral adaptation and system degradation progress together. Travelers adjust departure times, shift routes or modes as options narrow, and cancel trips, while system performance deteriorates in parallel through declining speeds, rising vehicle hours traveled, expanding detours, and suppressed demand. Second, the distribution of flood-related mobility loss is sharply unequal, with the greatest burdens borne by low-income, marginalized, transit-dependent, and physically constrained travelers whose limited flexibility heightens exposure during walking, waiting, and transferring, and with work and school travel absorbing many of the largest delays and cancellations. Third, the evidence base exhibits a methodological imbalance, as most studies examine either behavioral responses or system performance in isolation. This review identifies four future research directions: (i) tracing floods, behavior, and operations together through time, (ii) calibrating models to observed behavioral thresholds under flood conditions, (iii) shifting equity analysis to activity-space exposure, and (iv) expanding comparative and multimodal evidence across under-studied regions and non-motorized and informal modes. These insights establish a unified basis for understanding how urban flooding restructures mobility and for strengthening planning and modeling efforts under intensifying climate conditions
Flow network · Flood Risk Assessment and Management · Infrastructure Resilience and Vulnerability Analysis · Urban Stormwater Management Solutions
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| Citations per year | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2026 - 2026 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |