Spatial Analysis of Flood Exposure and Vulnerability for Planning More Equal Mitigation Actions

Abstract

The issue of spatial equity of Nature-Based Solutions in cities generally concerns the spatial distribution of their benefits to local residents and other city users. In the context of flood risk management, planners are challenged to identify effective mitigation and adaptation measures that can generate benefits to the higher number of people and, more specifically, to people with highest levels of exposure and vulnerability. To address these issues, an essential step is to identify the geography of needs for mitigation, intended as prior areas in which to locate measures for flood risk mitigation. This study combines geospatial layers of multiple dimensions of exposure and vulnerability to flooding and identifies prior areas suitable for design scenarios for mitigation of flooding risk, for a regional case study located in Sicily. The results show patterns of exposure and vulnerability that vary according to locally relevant physical and social urban dimensions. Based on these results, proposals for mitigation actions are advanced with the overall objective of generating equal benefits to the most vulnerable exposed social subjects. Moreover, this study argues about the particular implications of implementing stormwater green infrastructure planning for equal beneficial distribution of the potentially achievable risk reduction.