Flood risk reduction and resilience building in flood-prone settlements: the case of Sitio Gulayan community

This PhD thesis focuses on the issue of informal settlements in flood risk areas and sets out to contribute fresh insights and new knowledge in relation to flood risk reduction and resilience building. The case study is a floodplain settlement in the heart of Malabon City historically experiencing flood inundation during the typhoon season. The urbanised city situated in the northern sector of Mega Manila is renowned for flooding due to its geographical location. With the settlement’s housing programme in an impasse and land scarcity hindering in-city relocation, this thesis aims to explore if the settlement can adapt to flood hazards in-situ. Sitio Gulayan community was investigated to address the research question, “Could informal floodplain settlements be technically adapted for resilience building and developed to form transitional settlements?” The conceptual model proposed by Pojani in 2018 to study the urban form and architecture of informal settlements was adapted in this study, to explain and give a broader understanding of the research problem. The methodology involved the design and administration of survey questionnaires to a sample of 150 residents, key informant interviews with 30 residents including 5 local authorities, and visual recordings from field observations. Data on historical flooding and flood damage were collected from the field, published literature, and reports from government agencies. The findings showed 6 housing typologies classified according to structural type and height classes. Most one- and two-storey concrete houses have already adapted to flood hazards, whilst the one-storey houses made of wood would still need to adapt technically in order to mitigate flood risks. The makeshift houses using salvaged materials particularly vulnerable to flood hazards, may well benefit from technical adaptation. The main findings indicate that the settlement can be technically adapted to develop into a transitional settlement over time, through the recommendations of elevated construction and floatable houses, in conjunction with resolving overcrowding in the community incrementally through reblocking