Increasing the flood resilience of populations in deprived urban areas

Ms Fenosoa Nantenaina Ramiaramanana
University of Liege, Belgium / University of Twente, Netherlands

Research problem: Floods are an increasing problem in urban areas. Poorly managed urbanization, such as in Antananarivo (Madagascar), is the main factor leading to deprived urban areas in flood-prone areas with vulnerable populations and low adaptive capacities.

Innovation/novelty: The proposed approach considers the transition from water management to flood risk management, generating two innovations: in-situ management policies based on environmental and property level adaptation and integration of different disciplines and stakeholders, including local communities. A new rapid flood modelling tool and an interactive Maptable will be used.

Proposed solution: Use of a hydrological model to increase the understanding of the interactions between urbanization, flood exposure, and social vulnerability to foster the resilience of populations in deprived, flood-prone urban areas. This model lets local stakeholders explore possible urban transformation scenarios to reduce flood risk interactively.

Research Methodology: First, survey selected deprived urban areas to analyze social vulnerability. Second, select potential study sites for flood response workshops and conduct semi-structured interviews, focus groups, and discussions with local stakeholders, supported by the rapid flood modelling tool using a collaborative Maptable to identify preferred risk reduction interventions.

Practical application and implications: The involvement of local communities in flood management requires collaboration with the affected population and facilitates the use of the results by local institutions. Rapid flood modelling supports multi-stakeholder interactions and the search for common ground in flood risk reduction. Replication in other flood-prone communities is possible.

Assumptions: The lack of data and tools to support risk-sensitive urbanization weakens urban governance and promotes the development of deprived urban areas in many cities in the South. With the support of local communities, we will develop tools for analysis, communication, prioritization of interventions and decision support for urban flood management.

Scope and limitations: (1) This research is interdisciplinary within urban planning, flood risk management, and social vulnerability; (2) This study is part of an ongoing PhD research on the impact of flooding on vulnerable populations in Antananarivo.