The impacts of climate change on urban and rural areas are becoming increasingly evident worldwide. Coastal regions along the southern Mediterranean are particularly affected, as rising sea levels, increasing erosion, and changing precipitation patterns threaten the structural stability of buildings. A new study, led by Sara Fouad, a visiting researcher and doctoral candidate at the Chair of Landscape Architecture and Transformation at the Technical University of Munich (TUM), examines the hydroclimatic factors contributing to these building collapses and explores how adaptive landscape strategies can help mitigate risks.
The research, conducted in collaboration with international experts from the University of Southern California (USC), NASA, Delft University of Technology (TU Delft), the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), and Ain Shams University, has now been published in the prestigious scientific journal Earth’s Future. This journal is among the most influential in the environmental field, publishing studies that provide innovative solutions to urgent ecological challenges.
The article, titled "Soaring Building Collapses in Southern Mediterranean Coasts: Hydroclimatic Drivers & Adaptive Landscape Mitigations", identifies key climatic and hydrological factors exacerbating building damage in coastal regions. The study highlights how rising groundwater levels, increasing erosion processes, and extreme weather events threaten structural stability. In addition to analyzing the causes, the research also presents adaptive landscape solutions that could provide sustainable protection for these at-risk regions.
Co-authors of the study include Essam Heggy from NASA, Oula Amrouni and Abderraouf Hzami from the National Institute of Marine Sciences and Technologies at the University of Carthage in Tunisia, Steffen Nijhuis from Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) in the Netherlands, Nesma Mohamed and Ibrahim H. Saleh from Alexandria University in Egypt, and Udo Weilacher from TUM.
Further Information:
- Full open-access publication: https://doi.org/10.1029/2024EF004883
- Website of the Chair of Landscape Architecture and Transformation
- USC Press Release