Adapting Cities to Pluvial Flooding: The Case of Izmir (Türkiye)

Stefano Salata (), Koray Velibeyoğlu, Alper Baba, Nicel Saygın, Virginia Thompson Couch and Taygun Uzelli
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Stefano Salata: Department of Architecture and Urban Studies, Lab PPTE, Politecnico di Milano, 20133 Milano, Italy
Koray Velibeyoğlu: Department of City and Regional Planning, Faculty of Architecture, Izmir Institute of Technology, Gülbahçe Campus Urla, Izmir 35430, Türkiye
Alper Baba: Department of International Water Resources, Civil Engineering Faculty, Izmir Institute of Technology, Gülbahçe Campus Urla, Izmir 35430, Türkiye
Nicel Saygın: Department of City and Regional Planning, Faculty of Architecture, Izmir Institute of Technology, Gülbahçe Campus Urla, Izmir 35430, Türkiye
Virginia Thompson Couch: Department of Architecture, Faculty of Architecture, Izmir Institute of Technology, Gülbahçe Campus Urla, Izmir 35430, Türkiye
Taygun Uzelli: Geothermal Energy Research and Application Center, Izmir Institute of Technology, Urla, Izmir 35430, Türkiye

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 24, 1-19

Abstract: In the coming decades, climate change will be one of the most significant challenges for urban areas. The quantity, duration and intensity of events, such as flash rains and heat waves, will increase the vulnerability of urban regions while exposing citizens to potentially dangerous conditions. According to the current literature, mainstreaming resilience in urban planning means designing rules that strengthen urban systems’ adaptive and self-regulating functions by reducing their vulnerability. In this work, we aimed to build knowledge for the application of the sponge district concept to Izmir (Türkiye), one of Europe’s most vulnerable areas to pluvial flooding. To do this, we first analyzed the runoff in each urban sub-watershed, then employed a composite index to determine potential areas of intervention for nature-based solutions. Results show that 10% of Izmir’s urban areas are extremely vulnerable to cloudbursts, which means that 40% of the urban population is exposed to this phenomenon. Moreover, the runoff calculation in the sub-watershed demonstrated that the potential flood volume is underestimated, especially in the upslope areas. The results can be used as a template to suggest a stepwise approach to mainstream the resilience of densely-inhabited coastal urban catchments.

Keywords: pluvial flooding; ecosystem services; nature-based solutions; urban planning; resilience; vulnerability (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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