Chinese Built-up Land in Floodplains Moving Closer to Freshwaters

International Journal of Disaster Risk Science

Jiayi Fang¹  Min Liu¹  Yongqiang Fang²  Min Zhang³  Jiahong Wen³  Shiqiang Du⁴ 

[1] Key Laboratory of Geographic Information Science, Ministry of Education, School of Geographic Sciences, East China Normal University, 200241, Shanghai, China;Key Laboratory of Geographic Information Science, Ministry of Education, School of Geographic Sciences, East China Normal University, 200241, Shanghai, China;School of Environmental and Geographical Sciences, Shanghai Normal University, 200234, Shanghai, China;School of Environmental and Geographical Sciences, Shanghai Normal University, 200234, Shanghai, China;School of Environmental and Geographical Sciences, Shanghai Normal University, 200234, Shanghai, China;Institute for Environmental Studies, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, 1081 HV, Amsterdam, Netherlands;

关键词: China;    Floodplains;    Flood exposure;    Landscape sustainability;    Socio-hydrology;    Urbanization;   

DOI  :  10.1007/s13753-021-00343-9

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

Human proximity to water and its dynamics are important to understanding the socio-hydrological dilemma between using floodplains and avoiding flood risk. However, previous studies have not distinguished between the water proximity of built-up land in floodplains (BLF) and the water proximity of built-up land outside floodplains (BLOF). This article provides a new and spatiotemporal perspective of the BLF water proximities for understanding the changing flood risk in China. The results show that China’s BLFs had an average water proximity of 5.41 km in 2014. Most of the BLFs (62%, 25.88×103 km2) were located within 3 km of waterbodies. From 1990 to 2014, China’s BLFs increased rapidly by 81% from 23.06×103 km2 to 41.74×103 km2, of which a large portion (57%) was concentrated in water surroundings (≤3 km), shortening the distance between BLFs and waterbodies by 169 m. The BLF growth concentrated in water surroundings even in areas where BLFs have an overall increasing distance from waterbodies. Both the increases in the BLFs and their proximity to waterbodies can increase flood exposure and exacerbate flood risk. The scientific community and policymakers should pay attention not only to the volume of BLF growth, but also its spatial relationship with waterbodies.

【 授权许可】

CC BY