Vulnerability to urban flooding assessed based on spatial demographic, socio-economic and infrastructure inequalities

Bibliographic Data

ID22028443
AuthorsAlejandro Roldán-Valcarce (0000-0002-0330-0856, Universidad de Cantabria, corresponding author), Daniel Jato-Espino (0000-0002-1964-6667, Valencian International University), Cristina Manchado (0000-0002-3979-5117, Universidad de Cantabria), Peter M Bach (0000-0001-5799-6185, ETH Zurich), Martijn Kuller (0000-0002-2555-9113, Utrecht University)
Year2023
Volume95
Pages103894
Publication date2023-09-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueInternational Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2212-4209
PublisherElsevier BV (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1016/j.ijdrr.2023.103894
OpenAlexW4385267006
LanguageEN
Citations received12
References cited59

Urban flooding is a priority in natural risk management and mitigation because it is the most frequent natural disaster in densely urbanised environments. This research explores flood vulnerability in cities by developing an index that can be easily implemented across the world. Our methodology is based on the arrangement of a series variables into three different classes (demography, socioeconomics and infrastructure) and the determination of their spatial variability through a Principal Component Analysis (PCA). We tested the proposed approach in the city of Santander (Spain) where a vulnerability index map was generated based on the combination of the proposed classes. The analysis show that we can reduce complexity from an initially identified 159 relevant variables to 16 representative and impactful variables in terms of spatial variance. Classification of the variables into three different classes made it possible to quantify the main causes of vulnerability to flooding across space. We produce a flood risk map by integrating our findings with a flood hazard map for the same area. This flood risk map gives urban planners detailed information about the most affected areas and allows them to design measures that mitigate the severity and effects of floods optimising available resources

Business · Cartography · Climate change · Computer security · Environmental planning · Environmental resource management · Flood myth · Geography · Hazard · Natural disaster · Natural hazard · Vulnerability index · Computer Science · Environmental Science · Flood Risk Assessment and Management · Hydrology and Drought Analysis · Tropical and Extratropical Cyclones Research

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