Open Urban Studies and Demography Journal
2015, 1 : 41-51Published online 2015 December 31. DOI: 10.2174/2352631901401010041
Publisher ID: OUSDJ-1-41
RESEARCH ARTICLE
Resilience of Inland Urban Areas to Disasters Occurred Due to Extreme
Precipitations
2 Rheinisch Westfaelische Technische Hochschule (RWTH), Templergraben 83/4.OG, 56062 Aachen, Germany
3 Republic Hydrometeorological Service of Serbia, Kneza Višeslava 66, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia
4 Faculty of Architecture, Zoisova 12, SI-1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
* Address correspondence to this author at the Kneza Miloša Str. N7, 38220 Kosovska Mitrovica, Kosovo/Serbia; mob: +381638274552; E-mail: saja.kosanovic@pr.ac.rs
ABSTRACT
Among possible manifestations of climate change, which, according to predictions for coming period, may occur in different regions of Europe, are the extreme precipitations. These events, often accompanied by storms, may further lead to a whole series of consequences in urban environment and to the occurrence of disasters, such as massive floods. Starting from the description of case of Serbia floods 2014, this paper identifies some of the past human mistakes with experienced (and possibly future) catastrophic consequences, gives overview of future climate change expectations in terms of extreme precipitation occurrence, considers possible negative implications on urban population, built environment and functions, and defines resilient city concept. Finally, the paper introduces strategic proposal on achieving flood-resilient cities. Proposed concept deals both with the mitigation of past errors and the introduction of new, climate-resilient practice in further urban development. Time gap between future (with supposed achieved resilience) and present moment (with supposed high level of vulnerability and therefore risks) is overcome by definition of priorities and introduction of three different time-related categories of actions and results: immediate, short-term and long-term. Achieving social preparedness for possible extreme weather events represents the first important step in reducing the possibility of their negative transformation into disaster.