Spatial Assessment of Territorial Resilience to Floods Using Comprehensive Indicators: Application to Greater Papeete (French Polynesia)

Abstract

Flash floods and coastal flooding are more and more frequent and damaging in the context of climate change. In addition, the concentration of the population in urban areas contributes to increasing flood risk in these areas. Furthermore, not all territories are at the same level in their risk and resilience management approaches. Regarding this, the French overseas territories have been identified as particularly vulnerable to flood risk. This is the case for Tahiti, the main island of French Polynesia where the capital is located. It is a dense urban area subject to coastal and river flooding hazards, largely exacerbated by the physical environment. Our goal is to propose a method to assess flood resilience in Tahiti. We developed an indicator-based method and used GIS to produce and represent a spatial analysis of territorial resilience. We developed a list of comprehensive spatial indicators that take into account three main dimensions: a structural dimension (e.g., building resilience), an organisational dimension (e.g., the resilience of actions during crisis) and a socio-economic dimension (e.g., human economic capital). The final objective of this research is to design decision-making tools for territorial stakeholders to help them in long-term reflection and collaboration.