Socio-technological tool for mapping susceptibility to urban flooding

The intensification of flooding in urban areas and the management of susceptibility areas has become a global issue and has been the subject of several studies in recent decades. The integration of alternative approaches, such as socio-hydrological and socio-technological sciences, has gained prominence in urban space planning and development. The mapping of environmental susceptibility represents a promising alternative for the integrated management of natural disasters. However, for this to be used as a socio-technological tool, transiting to a participative management of urban environment, it is necessary to simplify and reduce the associated costs. In this sense, the objective of this study was to propose a socio-technological tool for the punctual and spatial mapping of the susceptibility to the occurrence of flooding in urban regions. The method is designed to combine ease and low cost of application with a simplified but physically sensitive socio-hydrological assessment of eight factors of influence. The methodological tool was tested in a Brazilian district where entire socio-hydrological scenario of urban flooding in developing countries is observed. The results show that the method can provide a simple and consistent view, reaching an overall accuracy of 73.67% of the flooding points. In general, the method provides information that can support decision-making by government agencies in developed and developing countries, as well as civil society, in relation to participatory urban zoning, drainage management, and water conservation.