Author(s)

N. Bhattacharya1, J. Lamond2, D. G. Proverbs2, F. Hammond1 & D. Searle1

Abstract

The characteristics of flood risk situation in the UK for commercial properties involve large scale complexity in terms of effective contributory variables, different levels of spatio-temporal scales, and affected stakeholders’ involvement. In the process of risk assessment, vulnerability has emerged as one of the most critical concepts as an indicative factor of measurement of severity of the likely consequence. The study builds on evaluation of existing approaches of participatory vulnerability and valuation approaches and moves on to develop new pluralistic participatory vulnerability analysis (PVA) method for analysis of qualitative and quantitative information. The focus is to investigate the effectiveness of participatory vulnerability analysis (PVA) approach supported by GIS as a potential tool for the UK commercial property sector for assessment of vulnerability of property values towards flooding. This includes the involvement of affected stakeholders to evaluate the predictive effect of the contributory factors on vulnerability of commercial property values. The proposed participatory spatial analysis method is suitable to be implemented within a Geographic Information System (GIS) framework. The approach is simple and transparent allowing public participation as well as accommodating data gaps by including opinions and experiential knowledge in the analysis. Keywords: commercial properties, GIS, PVA, spatial analysis, valuation.

Keywords

commercial properties, GIS, PVA, spatial analysis, valuation