Adapting urban areas to flooding

This briefing note summarises how urban areas can be better managed to adapt to flood risk from rivers, surface water, sewers and ground water. The publication highlights the following points:

• Extreme rainfall events are predicted to become more frequent and severe in the future as the climate changes.
• Existing urban defences and drainage infrastructure cannot cope with increasingly extreme events, but urban areas can be adapted to reduce vulnerabilities to flooding.
• There is no single solution to manage urban flood risks: a portfolio of solutions will be needed that include traditional flood defences but also flood resilience measures.
• Urban drainage systems that mimic a natural landscape can reduce surface flooding and provide other benefits.