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Advances in Urban Flood Modeling: Exploring the Impacts of Land...
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Advances in Urban Flood Modeling: Exploring the Impacts of Land Use, Climate Change, and Green Infrastructure on Flood Risks and Mitigation Strategies

A special issue of Land (ISSN 2073-445X). This special issue belongs to the section "Land–Climate Interactions".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (14 October 2025) | Viewed by 4419

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Jinyao Lin

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Geographical Sciences, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou 510006, China
Interests: land use; urban flood; green infrastructure; urban expansion; waterlogging
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Fabrizio Terenzio Gizzi

E-Mail Website1 Website2
Guest Editor
Institute of Heritage Science, National Research Council (ISPC-CNR), Area della Ricerca, C.da S. Loja, 85050 Tito, Potenza, Italy
Interests: natural hazards; historical seismicity; historical floods; historical landslides; disaster response; natural hazard insurance; natural hazards and cultural heritage; heritage science; bibliometrics
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Urban flood is a frequent and severe disaster that occurs in major cities worldwide, causing socioeconomic and environmental losses that hinder sustainable development. Governments have proposed various policies for addressing urban flood problems. For example, the United States has recommended the implementation of the “Low Impact Development” strategy, and China promotes sponge city planning. In this regard, clarifying the factors affecting urban floods is fundamental for sustainable land management. In fact, the effectiveness of these actions relies greatly on having a clear overview of the factors influencing urban floods. Previous studies have shown that urban flood is significantly affected by both natural and anthropogenic factors.

Therefore, the goal of this Special Issue is to collect papers (original research articles and review papers) that provide insights on the recent advances in urban flood modeling. In particular, this Special Issue aims to explore the impacts of urban development, climate change, and green infrastructure on flood risks and mitigation strategies.

This Special Issue welcomes manuscripts that cover the following themes:

  • Relationship between land use changes and urban floods;
  • Relationship between land use patterns and urban floods;
  • Future urban flood risk simulation and prediction;
  • Impact of land use management on flood risk mitigation strategies.

We look forward to receiving your original research articles and reviews.

Dr. Jinyao Lin
Dr. Fabrizio Terenzio Gizzi
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Land is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • urban flood
  • waterlogging
  • land use
  • urban expansion
  • impervious surface
  • green infrastructure
  • historical flood investigations

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Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

25 pages, 12678 KB  
Article
A Multi-Indicator Hazard Mechanism Framework for Flood Hazard Assessment and Risk Mitigation: A Case Study of Rizhao, China
by Yunjia Ma, Xinyue Li, Yumeng Yang, Shanfeng He, Hao Guo and Baoyin Liu
Land 2026, 15(1), 82; https://doi.org/10.3390/land15010082 - 31 Dec 2025
Viewed by 302
Abstract
Urban flooding has become a critical environmental challenge under global climate change and rapid urbanization. This study develops a multi-indicator hazard mechanism framework for flood hazard assessment in Rizhao, a coastal city in China, by integrating three fundamental hydrological processes: runoff generation, flow [...] Read more.
Urban flooding has become a critical environmental challenge under global climate change and rapid urbanization. This study develops a multi-indicator hazard mechanism framework for flood hazard assessment in Rizhao, a coastal city in China, by integrating three fundamental hydrological processes: runoff generation, flow convergence, and drainage. Based on geospatial data—including DEM, road networks, land cover, and soil characteristics—six key indicators were evaluated using the TOPSIS method: runoff curve number, impervious surface percentage, topographic wetness index, time of concentration, pipeline density, and distance to rivers. The results show that extreme-hazard zones, covering 6.41% of the central urban area, are primarily clustered in northern sectors, where flood susceptibility is driven by the synergistic effects of high imperviousness, short concentration time, and inadequate drainage infrastructure. Independent validation using historical flood records confirmed the model’s reliability, with 83.72% of documented waterlogging points located in predicted high-hazard zones and an AUC value of 0.737 indicating good discriminatory performance. Based on spatial hazard patterns and causal mechanisms, an integrated mitigation strategy system of “source reduction, process regulation, and terminal enhancement” is proposed. This strategy provides practical guidance for pipeline rehabilitation and sponge city implementation in Rizhao’s resilience planning, while the developed hazard mechanism framework of “runoff–convergence–drainage” provides a transferable methodology for flood hazard assessment in large-scale urban environments. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Urban Flood Modeling: Exploring the Impacts of Land Use, Climate Change, and Green Infrastructure on Flood Risks and Mitigation Strategies)
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26 pages, 4376 KB  
Article
Spatiotemporal Mapping of Urban Flood Susceptibility: A Multi-Criteria GIS-Based Assessment in Nangarhar, Afghanistan
by Imtiaz Ahmad, Wang Ping, Sajid Ullah, Khadeijah Yahya Faqeih, Somayah Moshrif Alamri, Eman Rafi Alamery, Asma Abdulaziz Abdullah Abalkhail and Haji Muhammad Bilal Jan
Land 2025, 14(12), 2376; https://doi.org/10.3390/land14122376 - 4 Dec 2025
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 705
Abstract
Urban Flooding is one of the most prevalent natural hazards worldwide, leading to substantial human and economic losses. Therefore, the assessment and mapping of flood hazard levels are essential for reducing the impact of future flood disasters. This study develops and integrates a [...] Read more.
Urban Flooding is one of the most prevalent natural hazards worldwide, leading to substantial human and economic losses. Therefore, the assessment and mapping of flood hazard levels are essential for reducing the impact of future flood disasters. This study develops and integrates a methodology to evaluate urban flood susceptibility in Nangarhar Province, Afghanistan, a semi-arid region with limited prior research. Landsat imagery from 2004 to 2024 was used to analyze land use land cover change (LULCC), indicating that built-up areas increased from 124 to 180 km2 in 2004 to 2024, respectively, while agricultural land decreased from 1978 km2 to 1883 km2 during the same period. Climate data exhibit increases in temperatures and intensifying rainfall, exacerbating flood hazards. Geospatial analysis of elevation, slope, drainage density, and proximity to water bodies highlights the high susceptibility of low-lying areas. The Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) was employed to integrate diverse flood risk factors and produce accurate flood hazard maps. The findings show that very-high flood susceptibility zones expanded from 1537 to 1699 km2 in 2004 to 2024, whereas low-susceptibility zones declined from 131 km2 to 110 km2. Socioeconomic indicators such as population density, built-up density, and education accessibility were also incorporated into the assessment. This study underscores the need for adaptive land use planning, resilient drainage systems, and community-based flood risk reduction strategies. The findings provide actionable insights for sustainable flood management and demonstrate the value of combining GIS, remote sensing, and multi-criteria analysis in data-scarce, conflict-affected regions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Urban Flood Modeling: Exploring the Impacts of Land Use, Climate Change, and Green Infrastructure on Flood Risks and Mitigation Strategies)
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28 pages, 17631 KB  
Article
Assessment of Coastal Compound Flooding in Tropical Catchment: Saltwater Creek Catchment in Australia
by Sher B. Gurung, Robert J. Wasson, Michael Bird and Ben Jarihani
Land 2025, 14(9), 1898; https://doi.org/10.3390/land14091898 - 17 Sep 2025
Viewed by 839
Abstract
Compound flooding in coastal tropical cities is becoming increasingly prominent, driven by extreme rainfall events and sea level rise, under a changing climate. Quantifying the impact of these events is limited due to a lack of long-term data and funding and the need [...] Read more.
Compound flooding in coastal tropical cities is becoming increasingly prominent, driven by extreme rainfall events and sea level rise, under a changing climate. Quantifying the impact of these events is limited due to a lack of long-term data and funding and the need for advanced computational tools. To address this issue, this study employed a coupled one-dimensional (1D) and two-dimensional (2D) hydrodynamic model for the Saltwater Creek catchment in tropical north Queensland, Australia. In total, eight scenarios with compounding effects were assessed: four under the current climate (CC) and four under representative concentration pathway (RCP) 8.5. Under CC, the compound flooding event inundated almost 3% to 18% of the area conditions. This condition is further exacerbated under the RCP 8.5 climate change scenario, expanding the area flooded by 2% to 7% by 2090. The site experiences inundation up to 4.6 m at low-lying locations and extreme velocities up to 4 m/s at the upstream catchment with high flooding risk. The results suggest that this catchment requires an integrated approach to flood mitigation to meet the challenges posed by climate change, but careful consideration is required in interpreting the results. The results can be further improved by adopting higher-resolution and longer datasets for modelling, as well as considering land use change under the climate change scenarios. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Urban Flood Modeling: Exploring the Impacts of Land Use, Climate Change, and Green Infrastructure on Flood Risks and Mitigation Strategies)
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16 pages, 16081 KB  
Article
Dynamic Assessment of Population Exposure to Urban Flooding Considering Building Characteristics
by Shaonan Zhu, Xin Yang, Jiabao Yang, Jun Zhang, Qiang Dai and Zhenzhen Liu
Land 2025, 14(4), 832; https://doi.org/10.3390/land14040832 - 11 Apr 2025
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1601
Abstract
Under intensifying climate change impacts, accurate quantification of population exposure to urban flooding has become an imperative component of risk mitigation strategies, particularly when considering the dynamic nature of human mobility patterns. Previous assessments relying on neighborhood block-scale population estimates derived from conventional [...] Read more.
Under intensifying climate change impacts, accurate quantification of population exposure to urban flooding has become an imperative component of risk mitigation strategies, particularly when considering the dynamic nature of human mobility patterns. Previous assessments relying on neighborhood block-scale population estimates derived from conventional census data have been constrained by significant spatial aggregation errors. This study presents methodological advancements through the integration of social sensing data analytics, enabling unprecedented spatial resolution at the building scale while capturing real-time population dynamics. We developed an agent-based simulation framework that incorporates (1) building-based urban environment, (2) hydrodynamic flood modeling outputs, and (3) empirically grounded human mobility patterns derived from multi-source geospatial big data. The implemented model systematically evaluates transient population exposure through spatiotemporal superposition analysis of flood characteristics and human occupancy patterns across different urban functional zones in Lishui City, China. Firstly, multi-source points of interest (POIs) data are aggregated to acquire activated time of buildings, and an urban environment system at the building scale is constructed. Then, with population, buildings, and roads as the agents, and population behavior rules, activity time of buildings, and road accessibility as constraints, an agent-based model in an urban flood scenario is designed to dynamically simulate the distribution of population. Finally, the population dynamics of urban flood exposure under a flood scenario with a 50-year return is simulated. We found that the traditional exposure assessment method at the block scale significantly overestimated the exposure, which is four times of our results based on building scale. The proposed method enables a clearer portrayal of the disaster occurrence process at the urban local level. This work, for the first time, incorporates multi-source social sensing data and the triadic relationship between human activities, time, and space in the disaster process into flood exposure assessment. The outcomes of this study can contribute to estimate the susceptibility to urban flooding and formulate emergency response plans. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Urban Flood Modeling: Exploring the Impacts of Land Use, Climate Change, and Green Infrastructure on Flood Risks and Mitigation Strategies)
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