Flood economic vulnerability and risk assessment at the urban mesoscale based on land use: A case study in Changsha, China

With climate change and urbanization, flood disasters have significantly affected urban development worldwide. In this study, we developed a paradigm to assess flood economic vulnerability and risk at the urban mesoscale, focusing on urban land use. A hydrological simulation was used to evaluate flood hazards through inundation analyses, and a hazard-vulnerability matrix was applied to assess flood risk, enhancing the economic vulnerability assessment by quantifying the differing economic value and flood losses associated with different land types. The case study of Wangchengpo, Changsha, China, found average total economic losses of 126.94 USD/m², with the highest risk in the settlement core. Residential areas had the highest flood hazard, vulnerability, and losses (61.10% of the total loss); transportation areas accounted for 27.87% of the total economic losses due to their high flooding depth. Despite low inundation, industrial land showed greater economic vulnerability due to higher overall economic value (10.52% of the total). Our findings highlight the influence of land types and industry differences on flood vulnerability and the effectiveness of land-use inclusion in urban-mesoscale analyses of spatial flood characteristics. We identify critical areas with hazard and economic vulnerability for urban land and disaster prevention management and planning, helping to offer targeted flood control strategies to enhance urban resilience.