Flooding is a deleterious phenomenon that induces detrimental impacts on humans, properties and environment. As a result, the knowledge of susceptible places and hazard perception is increasingly pertinent. This study mainly aims at identifying areas susceptible to flood through the application of logistic regression model using remote sensing data (RS) and Geographical Information System (GIS). A flood inventory was generated using 153 historical flood locations and a total of 10 predicting factors (elevation, slope, aspect, profile curvature, distance from rivers, distance from roads, the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), the Normalized Difference Soil Index (NDSI), the Topographic Wetness Index (TWI) and rainfall) were utilized. Flood points were randomly subdivided into training (75%) for model building and testing (25%) points for validation through the Area Under Curve (AUC) approach. The results indicated that NDVI and rainfall are the most influencing variables for estimating flood risk as they showed a high positive relationship with flood occurrence in the study area. Testing datasets disclosed 79.8% of prediction rate using the AUC. Moreover, the results have been linked with community perception on flood and the outcome revealed that the government is perceived as responsible for all flood mitigation measures instead of being a shared responsibility. This perception may contribute to the increase in susceptibility. The results of this study will be essential for upcoming development projects from different organizations operating in many developing countries and would assist as a baseline for flood risk reduction and management especially for Rwanda.

Flood susceptibility modeling and hazard perception in Rwanda

As an initial exploration, preliminary studies which are conducted for the identification of key points to be addressed in flood risk management (FRM) processes are crucial to mitigate potential impacts of floods. Generating the flood risk maps with the participation of diverse stakeholders at each level of administration is essential to develop effective FRM strategies. Hence, the objectives of this study are twofold: i) to produce district-based vulnerability, hazard, and flood risk maps for Istanbul with a hybrid fuzzy AHP-TOPSIS model, ii) to generate these maps by considering the perceptions of different stakeholders separately, which is an initial attempt in the literature, ensuring the comparative analysis of stakeholder perceptions in FRM. Local and metropolitan municipalities, disaster management and coordination centres, water and sewerage administrations, and universities were considered as the leading stakeholders since they are chiefly responsible decision-making bodies in FRM practices in Istanbul. Pearson's correlation coefficient and Spearman's rank correlation coefficient tests were used to obtain a more accurate understanding of the agreement levels between stakeholders. The results revealed the need for the involvement of various stakeholders to generate flood risk maps since significantly different perspectives were observed; and the need for changing the generated flood risk maps. The findings of this study are critical because generated maps show distinct differences according to the mentality of the organizations and experts, which inevitably change the most flood-prone areas and possible mitigation investments.

Stakeholder perceptions in flood risk assessment: A hybrid fuzzy AHP-TOPSIS approach for Istanbul, Turkey

RECOVERY OF DOMESTIC TOURISM DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC: An experimental comparison of interventions

Rapid urbanization and climate change have increased flood risk in urban settings. Risk perception is a vital constituent of flood risk management and risk communication. It has become important to understand risk perception so that appropriate disaster risk reduction strategies can be initiated. Socioeconomic factors influencing risk perception have a direct impact on potential adaptive capacities and disaster preparedness. This study gives an insight into psychosocial aspect of multifaceted risk in flood prone urban communities of Punjab, Pakistan. Three urban communities at high flood risk were selected from urban centres of different population size. A sample of 210 was collected using household surveys. Flood risk perception index was constructed using relevant indicators, and classified into high and low perceived risk. Logistic regression model was used to identify determinants of flood risk perception. The results show that past experiences and hazard proximity significantly influence risk perception. The determinants of risk perception also varied among the communities, depicting spatial variation. Findings of this study can help understanding flood risk perception and its determinants, in order to design proper risk communication strategies and flood risk management plans. In addition, this study can also support understanding multidimensional flood risk and its spatial dynamics from a social science perspective.

Characterizing flood risk perception in urban communities of Pakistan

A common assertion in discussions of flooding is that risk perception is critical and is linked to risk-mitigating behavior. Furthermore, many assert that the adverse effects of floods could be reduced by changes in risk communication, thereby influencing risk perception to foster mitigating behavior. We argue that these assertions are based on quite questionable underlying assumptions: That stakeholders are generally aware of flood risk, that they have the capacity to engage in disaster risk reduction, and that their actions can be effective. The belief in and policies influenced by these three questionable assertions support, in turn, policies that shift responsibility for flood risk reduction onto individuals and homeowners, without regard for social and spatial justice issues. In contrast, we argue that context matters to understanding the complexity of the relation between flood risk perception and behavior, local power relations, and other constraints and opportunities that affect stakeholders. While the academic community has long played a pivotal role in supporting practical flood risk management, future research should take a more critical perspective on the underlying assumptions and focus on improving coordination across theories, methods, and variables, fostering comparative studies across disciplines, contexts, and scales. This article is categorized under: Engineering Water > Planning Water Human Water > Water as Imagined and Represented Science of Water > Water Extremes.

https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-02946062/document

Swimming alone? Why linking flood risk perception and behavior requires more than “it's the individual, stupid”

While the methods of risk analysis are generally based on objective measurements, the subjective assessment of risk, such as risk perception, is currently considered a crucial aspect in the context of flood risk management. Risk perception is regarded as an assessment of the perceived probability of hazard and the perceived probability of the results (most often—negative consequences). The work attempts to answer the question: What determines flood risk perception? The knowledge of the factors influencing flood risk perception can solve the issue of the society’s underestimation of flood risk. This issue was considered both in terms of the impact of particular factors on flood risk perception and the interrelationship between three characteristics of flood risk perception: preparedness, worry and awareness. The results were developed based on critical analysis of the empirical research. The review shows that the way particular characteristics determine flood risk perception is not clear and many authors show the diverse conclusions from the similar research. Taking into account various research results, the following factors were distinguished: primary (which clearly influence risk perception), secondary (which influence it unclearly and require further research) and intervening (often describing the context). The organization of the results of the research on the flood risk assessment conducted herein aims to improve the understanding of the human perception of flood risk and, as a result, will lead to the decrease in flood risk by improving the communication of the issue and motivating the residents of the endangered areas to take actions that reduce the negative effects of floods.

/pdf/what-determines-flood-risk-perception-a-review-of-factors-of-3nlhoa3yym.pdf

What determines flood risk perception? A review of factors of flood risk perception and relations between its basic elements

The main aim of this research was to analyse the impact of embankment construction on floodplain land use through a land use comparison of embanked and unembanked floodplains. Another purpose of was to assess the influence of studied floodplain land use on the environment. The analysis was conducted on the example of two cities along the Odra River in Poland: Oława and Brzeg, which significantly vary from each other in the level of river levee. The former one is embanked while the latter is not. The study has shown that in the cities studied there is a more beneficial method of floodplain spatial management in the embanked areas, both from the protection and functioning of the environment and for potential environmental contamination in the case of the perspective of flooding (in fact, these areas are less invested than the examined embanked areas), as well as the embankment being an important anthropogenic element that changes river valley land use. It is largely determined through hydrology (the change of water and soil conditions due to the creation of an embankment), but also by legal regulations in the range of spatial planning and economics in the floodplain areas.

http://www.pjoes.com/pdf-65154-23986?filename=The Impact of Embankment.pdf

The Impact of Embankment Construction on Floodplain Land Use in the Context of its Influence on the Environment: a Case Study of Selected Cities in Poland

The ageing of the society is a serious factor affecting the prospects of urban development Unfavourable demographic changes disturb the functioning of the urban system, thus forcing adaptive activities leading to a new state of balance in the organism of a city The ageing of urban society requires a new look at the organisation of space in the city The importance of planning age‑friendly cities is rising fast Due to the low mobility of the elderly, it is important to plan their direct living environment, ensuring access to facilities or areas that meet the basic needs of this particular group of urban space users As part of the answer to the question: to what extent the cities of Poznan and Łodź are resilient to the ageing process in spatial terms, an analysis was performed of the accessibility of green areas, sports and recreation facilities, service and commercial, cultural, healthcare facilities and public transport stops for the elderly population This resulted in the delimitation of problem areas characterised by functional and spatial deficits and the development of the two cities’ resilience indexes to demographic changes, namely, ageing in spatial terms

/pdf/city-resilience-to-population-ageing-in-the-context-of-1ffz1ak8rz.pdf

City Resilience to Population Ageing In the Context of Spatial (In)Accessibility. The Case of Poznań and Łódź

Miasto przyjazne starzeniu w kontekście dostępności przestrzennej na przykładzie Łodzi

Cities, as places of social interactions and human relationships, face new challenges, problems, and threats, which are sources of stress for residents. An additional cause of stress in recent years has been the COVID-19 pandemic; it was urban dwellers who were most exposed to the virus and most affected by it. Chronic stress has led to the serious erosion of physical health and psychophysical well-being among urban dwellers, and so there is a need to seek new solutions in terms of building the resilience of cities and their residents to stress. This study aims to verify the hypothesis that greenery reduced the level of stress among urban dwellers during the pandemic. The verification of this hypothesis was achieved based on a literature analysis and the results of geo-questionnaire studies conducted involving 651 residents of Poznan—among the largest of Polish cities, where the share of green areas in the spatial structure is more than 30%. According to the analysis, the interviewees experienced above-average stress levels that went up during the pandemic, and the source was not so much the virus but the restrictions imposed. Green areas and outdoor activities helped in reducing this stress (being surrounded by and looking at greenery, garden work, or plant cultivation). Residents perceive a post-pandemic city as one that is more green, in which priority is given to unmanaged green areas. It has also been pointed out that a response to the reported need for urban re-construction towards stress resilience may be a biophilic city.

/pdf/the-role-of-greenery-in-stress-reduction-among-city-mgm0x336.pdf

Ewa Lechowska

Papers

What determines flood risk perception? A review of factors of flood risk perception and relations between its basic elements

The Impact of Embankment Construction on Floodplain Land Use in the Context of its Influence on the Environment: a Case Study of Selected Cities in Poland

City Resilience to Population Ageing In the Context of Spatial (In)Accessibility. The Case of Poznań and Łódź

Miasto przyjazne starzeniu w kontekście dostępności przestrzennej na przykładzie Łodzi

The Role of Greenery in Stress Reduction among City Residents during the COVID-19 Pandemic