A smarter city skyline for flood safety

Based on their simulated results, the team recommends modifying building corners and protective block layouts to reduce pedestrian risk.

"Climate change leads to an increasing trend of extreme precipitation events in terms of frequency and intensity," said author Zhong-Fan Zhu."Rapid urbanization alters the hydrological properties of the underlying surface in urban areas. For example, previous forestland, wetland, and agricultural land have been paved to construct impervious, urban lands. These factors contribute to frequency occurrences of urban flood events.

Each city has unique buildings and building configurations. The team simulated three different urban block layouts: buildings neatly arranged and equally spaced in columns and rows, buildings offset and staggered, and a square tightly outlined by buildings with just four buildings enclosed within. Altering the building shape can also protect pedestrians. Rounding or adding recesses to building corners significantly reduced areas of dangerously high floodwater and windspeed. However, this intervention also somewhat decreased the safety zone."In some cases, the floodwater does not cause pedestrian instability, but adding the wind force will lead to a dangerous situation," said Zhu.

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