Examining social vulnerability to flood of affordable housing communities in Nanjing, China: Building long-term disaster resilience of low-income communities

In the context of climate change and rapid urbanization, urban floods disasters occur frequently across the globe, and social vulnerability has become an important theoretical perspective for understanding the occurrence and response of flooding disasters. This paper takes Nanjing as an example to investigate flooding disasters and social vulnerability in development countries. It develops an analysis framework and evaluation index system of social vulnerability from three dimensions of exposure, sensitivity and adaptability. Ten typical affordable housing communities were selected and individual-level survey data were collected to explore the influencing factors of social vulnerability. The results show that social vulnerability is simultaneously affected by exposure, sensitivity and adaptability. Communities with new construction ages and good built environments usually have lower levels of risk exposure. Those with residents having higher levels of education and social capital have lower sensitivity. The government's emergency operations and residents' response capabilities can both significantly improve the adaptability of communities to floods.

Automated summary

This paper examines flooding disasters and social vulnerability in developing countries using Nanjing as an example. The research reveals that social vulnerability is influenced by exposure, sensitivity, and adaptability, with newer buildings and better built environments leading to lower risk exposure, and higher education levels and social capital among residents reducing sensitivity to floods. The study also highlights the importance of government emergency operations and residents' response capabilities in improving community adaptability to flooding.