Urban development has significantly moulded its surrounding environment over the last few centuries, impacting topographies, drainage pathways, river morphologies, coastal shoreline dynamics and climate patterns. These urban legacies can influence both the drivers and the preparatory conditions of “natural” hazards like floods or landslides. Urban expansion further amplifies the exposure and/or the vulnerability of populations to such hazards, especially in low-to-middle income regions where there is often a lack of urban planning and proper engineering design.
Despite the ubiquitous influence of urbanization on environmental processes, quantifying its relative role is challenging due to the great spatio-temporal variability of its impacts. This often results into the omission of a dynamic urban factor into hazard modelling, hindering, as a consequence, the identification of improved urban hazard mitigation strategies and the measure of their effectiveness.
As we navigate an era of environmental changes, with a projected urban population growth from 55% in 2018 to 68% by 2050, scientists must be prepared to offer evidence-based insights into alternative pathways that consider the mutual interactions between the natural environment, social dynamics, and urban development. This session thus aims to foster collaborations amongst geoscientists, social scientists and policymakers to bring evidence on:
The urban impact on the occurrence of natural hazards and multi-hazards;
Modelling strategies to include such evidence of urban impact for a better prediction or mitigation of (multi-)hazard occurrence;
Mitigation strategies that have been or show potential to be successful in reducing the occurrence and/or consequences of natural hazards by modifying detrimental urban practices. Such strategies might include local (e.g., traditional or indigenous) knowledge and practices.
Social and political barriers encountered in changing and/or enforcing urban management despite the existence of better disaster-resilient alternatives.