Edinburgh Napier University

  Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to shed light on the potential of ecologically driven urban design interventions to substantiate urban form performance in coping with the increasing flood threats particularly in the Middle East region. The paper applies ecological principles to new urban interventions for pluvial flood adaptation in Muscat city, Oman. The interventions incorporate the physical dimensions of both the natural (topography) and the built environment (urban morphology). The study demonstrates different scenarios in Muscat city in Oman and discusses the different challenges faced at different socio-economic and ecological levels.

Design/methodology/approach
The paper adopts a case study approach. The methods include semi-structured interviews aiming to gain insight from experts in the field of study about salient physical interventions in the urban context that is potentially going to help mitigating flood consequences. Mitigation scenarios were guided by the participants’ recommendations in the area. Scenarios were tested across two complementary phases using two software packages, the first of which is the pre-processing phase accomplished by using the Aeronautical Reconnaissance Coverage Geographic Information System and the second is the flood analysis phase done by the Hydrological Environmental Center for River Analysis System (HECRAS) platform. The scenarios were evaluated in relation to the successfulness and reliability of physical solutions based on to which extent the flood wave depth and coverage was reduced.

Findings
The paper provides an alternative resilient holistic approach to achieve socially and ecologically sensitive and less expensive flood mitigation solutions in the Middle East.

Originality/value
The paper provides a new approach to flood mitigation linking ecological principles to the social dimension of human activities and experience in closely knitted communities.