Innovative Approaches Applied to Flood Risk Management in Urban Areas

Dear Colleagues,

Nowadays stakeholders have begun to face the challenge of preparing flood risk management (FRM) strategies to reduce risk and losses (eg. risk prevention, defense, mitigation, preparation, and recovery). FRM needs to be supported by comprehensive knowledge about the driving forces that define the flood risk and take into consideration the scale where FRM-related decisions are made, specially in the urban areas.

Understanding the drivers of flood risk at the local and urban areas can inform policy makers and planners about the types of measures that should be prioritized for reduction, adaptation, and mitigation in FRM. By also addressing exposure and vulnerability, a greater insight on the causes and potential solutions, in order to reduce flood risk, can be achieved.

Flood risk management plans can be based on three main strategies: (i) measures of a structural nature (defense works, river channeling, etc.); (ii) soft measures through cost-benefit analysis and similar approaches (e.g. risk prevention, education, risk, preparedness, or spatial planning) as well as of the blue and green infrastructure in reducing disaster risk; and (iii) non-structural measures (mostly plans, early warning systems, and civil protection exercises).

This Special Issue  aims to include contributions with case studies or research articles related to flood risk assessment and risk management strategies (structural, soft and non-structural measures), in urban areas worldwide, addressing both spatial and temporal changes in flood risk drivers, i.e. hazard, exposure, and vulnerability. Additionally, are welcome studies about the impact of flood risk management measures in the hydrological models, and in the interventions at the basin scale in urban areas and adaptation strategies to climate change.

Dr. Susana Pereira
Dr. Pedro Pinto Santos
Guest Editors

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