Chinese Built-up Land in Floodplains Moving Closer to Freshwaters

Yongqiang Fang; Shiqiang Du; Jiahong Wen; Min Zhang; Jiayi Fang; Min Liu

doi:10.1007/s13753-021-00343-9

Volume 12 Issue 3

Dec. 2021

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Article Navigation > International Journal of Disaster Risk Science > 2021 > 12(3): 355-366

Yongqiang Fang, Shiqiang Du, Jiahong Wen, Min Zhang, Jiayi Fang, Min Liu. Chinese Built-up Land in Floodplains Moving Closer to Freshwaters[J]. International Journal of Disaster Risk Science, 2021, 12(3): 355-366. doi: 10.1007/s13753-021-00343-9

Citation:

Yongqiang Fang, Shiqiang Du, Jiahong Wen, Min Zhang, Jiayi Fang, Min Liu. Chinese Built-up Land in Floodplains Moving Closer to Freshwaters[J]. International Journal of Disaster Risk Science, 2021, 12(3): 355-366. doi: 10.1007/s13753-021-00343-9

Citation:

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Chinese Built-up Land in Floodplains Moving Closer to Freshwaters

doi: 10.1007/s13753-021-00343-9

Yongqiang Fang^1,2,
Shiqiang Du^{2,3
,
,},
Jiahong Wen²,
Min Zhang^{2
,
,},
Jiayi Fang¹,
Min Liu¹

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

Funds:

This research was funded by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2017YFC1503001), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 41871200, 41730642 and 51761135024), the Shanghai Sailing Program (No. 19YF1413700) and the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (No. 2019M651429).

Available Online: 2021-12-25
Publish Date: 2021-12-25

Abstract

Abstract

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.
- China,
- Floodplains,
- Flood exposure,
- Landscape sustainability,
- Sociohydrology,
- Urbanization

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References(59)

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