Floodable parks across Europe (and beyond)
Urban growth has intensified the effects of climate change across the world, with the most visible impacts occurring at the local level. Cities experience rising temperatures, increased pollution, loss of biodiversity, and major disruptions to natural water processes. In Europe, one of the most pressing challenges linked to climate change and urban expansion is the growing pressure on water systems. Longer and more frequent droughts are now combined with sudden, intense rainfall events. In heavily built-up areas, sealed and paved surfaces prevent water from soaking into the ground, causing large volumes of surface runoff and increasing the risk of severe urban flooding.
Today, more than half of the world’s population lives in cities, and this figure is expected to rise to nearly two-thirds by 2050. As cities continue to expand, the area covered by impermeable surfaces will also grow. This reduces natural infiltration, disrupts the water cycle, and amplifies flood risks, heat stress, and water scarcity. These trends highlight the urgent need for sustainable urban planning and the wider use of blue-green infrastructure to restore natural water processes and increase climate resilience.
In order to mainstream the implementation of floodable parks, we have developed methodologies that can be applied in different stages of their construction. Therefore, our case studies are are either already constructed floodable parks, parks that can be retrofitted into floodable parks or new sites which suffer from flooding. This holistic approach allows for the transferability of the methods that we will develop and their future application.
