Developed by the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) Making Cities Resilient 2030 (MCR2030) Regional Coordinating Committee (RCC) Europe and Central Asia, the Waves of Change: Urban Resilience Pathways to Flood and Water Scarcity Risk report features key contributions from Professor Dilanthi Amaratunga, Professor of Disaster Risks and Climate Resilience at Loughborough University, who is a member of the RCC.
Across Europe and Central Asia, the relationship between cities and water is changing. Floods and droughts — once considered separate and distant threats — are now compounding realities shaping urban life across the region.
From flash floods and glacial lake outburst floods in Central Asia’s mountain cities, to prolonged droughts and water stress affecting millions of Europeans each year, the scale and complexity of water-related risks demand urgent, coordinated and informed action.
In 2024 alone, floods and storms affected around 413,000 people, caused at least 335 deaths, and resulted in more than €18 billion in damage.
In 2023, water scarcity affected around 32% of the EU population for at least part of the year, with droughts costing the EU up to €9 billion annually.
This newly published report looks at how cities across Europe and Central Asia are responding to growing flood, drought and water scarcity risks, drawing on case studies from the Making Cities Resilient 2030 (MCR2030) network. This helps to highlight practical approaches to risk knowledge, governance and implementation.
It also finds that the most resilient cities combine risk data, coordinated governance, sustained investment, and community engagement. It highlights solutions such as early warning systems, nature-based approaches, water reuse, digital monitoring and integrated planning, while recommending stronger collaboration, long-term financing and risk-informed urban development to prepare for future water challenges.
The report also details how climate change is making both floods and droughts more frequent and severe, and cities need to plan for both at the same time.
Professor Dilanthi Amaratunga has been a prominent and active contributor to the UNDRR Making Cities Resilient (MCR) initiative since its inception in May 2010. Since 2021, she has been a member of the UNDRR Making Cities Resilient 2030 (MCR2030) Regional Coordination Committee for Europe and Central Asia, which primarily supports MCR2030 at the strategic level, providing high-level inputs to ensure the strategy stays on track and the programme progresses according to key success measures.
MCR2030 emerges from a decade-long advocacy and capacity-building work that reached more than 6,000 cities across the globe within the network of the Making Cities Resilient Campaign. MCR2030 brings together key regional partners and selected city representatives, responsible for coordinating and ensuring synergies among regional partners in providing technical support to cities to empower them to progress along the resilience roadmap.
With time, flooding is becoming more damaging and is one of the costliest natural hazards in Europe. Cities face increasing risks from heavy rainfall, river flooding, and coastal flooding. Climate change, population growth, and higher water demand are putting pressure on water supplies.
By using better data and warning systems, stronger governance and flood protection measures, cities can help plan for drought and flood conditions, and help alleviate the effects.
The report also argues that cities should manage the entire water cycle as one connected system. The most resilient cities combine good data, strong governance, community involvement, sustainable infrastructure and long-term planning.
The report further promotes the idea of "sponge cities", where urban areas absorb, store, reuse and manage water naturally, helping reduce both flooding and water shortages.
Professor Dilanthi Amaratunga, from Loughborough University's School of Architecture, Building and Civil Engineering, said of the new report: “Across Europe and Central Asia, cities are increasingly confronted with water-related risks that may appear contradictory: flooding during intense rainfall events and water scarcity during prolonged droughts. In practice, these risks are deeply interconnected. Both are symptoms of a broader systemic challenge: the progressive disruption of natural hydrological processes caused by urbanisation, land sealing, river regulation, and fragmented approaches to water management."
The report will also be presented at a number of events in the coming months, including the upcoming pre-COP31 event in Ankara, Türkiye, co-organised with ADB (Asian Development Bank) and the World Bank.