Impact of Urbanization and Land Use Changes on Urban Pluvial Flooding in Addis Ababa: A Spatial Analysis
| dc.contributor.advisor | Solomon Benti | |
| dc.contributor.author | Nebil Muhidin | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2026-03-23T07:07:18Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2026-03-23T07:07:18Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2025-10-01 | |
| dc.description.abstract | Rapid urbanization in Addis Ababa has intensified urban pluvial flood risks by altering the land use and increasing the imperviousness hence overwhelming the existing stormwater drainage systems. This study seeks to address these challenges by mapping areas of the city susceptible to pluvial flooding, examining how land use changes increase surface impermeability and flood risk, and evaluating the effectiveness of current stormwater management practices. To achieve this, the study employs Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) with pairwise comparisons to determine the relative weights of eight flood-influencing factors: rainfall, slope, drainage density, elevation, land use/land cover, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Topographic Wetness Index (TWI), and road proximity integrated with GIS mapping. Remote sensing and aerial photography are utilized to assess land use and land cover transformation between the years 2005-2025, whereas Hydrologic Engineering Center-River Analysis System (HEC-RAS) was utilized to simulate water accumulation and flow pattern. The findings reveal that over 55% of the city (237.28 km²) is very highly to highly vulnerable to pluvial flooding, predominantly in central flat areas that are characterized by dense infrastructure and urbanization. Built-up areas expanded from 42.5% in 2005 to 62.6% in 2025, leading to an increase in runoff from 0.54M to 1.03M m³/day as estimated using the SCS-CN method. The study further identified significant constraints within the current stormwater management system including clogged drains, poor maintenance, and lack of institutional coordination. Based on these findings, the study recommends upgrading and maintaining drainage infrastructure, correcting low-lying sag points, reconfiguring drainage networks, promoting green infrastructure, enforcing land-use regulations, and applying advanced modeling and technology. Overall, this research provides a spatial basis for prioritizing infrastructure improvements and incorporating nature-based solutions, offering a mechanism of enabling Addis Ababa to minimize the danger of pluvial flooding in the context of population growth and climate change. | |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://etd.aau.edu.et/handle/123456789/8004 | |
| dc.language.iso | en | |
| dc.publisher | Addis Ababa University | |
| dc.subject | Impervious surface | |
| dc.subject | LULC | |
| dc.subject | Pluvial flooding | |
| dc.subject | Spatial analysis | |
| dc.subject | susceptibility mapping | |
| dc.title | Impact of Urbanization and Land Use Changes on Urban Pluvial Flooding in Addis Ababa: A Spatial Analysis | |
| dc.type | Thesis |