A quantitative flood risk analysis methodology for urban areas with integration of social research data

Risk analysis has become a top priority for authorities and stakeholders in many European countries, with the aim of reducing flooding risk, considering population's needs and iimproving risk awareness. Within this context, two methodological pieces have been developed in the period 2009-2011, during the SUFRI project (‘Sustainable strategies of urban flood risk management with non-structural measures to cope with the residual risk’, 2nd ERA-Net CRUE funding initiative). First, the ‘SUFRI Methodology for pluvial and river flooding risk assessment in urban areas to inform decision making’ provides a complete and quantitative tool for flood risk analysis. Second, the ‘Method for the investigation of risk awareness of the population concerned’ presents the basis to evaluate current risk from a social perspective and identify tendencies on the way floods are understood by citizens. Outcomes are integrated in this paper as applied to inform decision-making on non-structural protecting measures. Results of two case studies are shown to illustrate practical applications of this developed approach.