Iftekhar Ahmed

Vernacular buildings and adaptation to floods

An expert story by Iftekhar Ahmed, PhD Associate Professor in Construction Management @ University of Newcastle

Floods are the world’s most common natural hazard, and climate change is causing these to be more severe and occur more often. The greatest incidences of flooding occur in South and Southeast Asia. Areas around the Ganges-Brahmaputra and Mekong river basins, in particular, regularly experience major problems. Vernacular architectures in these areas demonstrate a variety of approaches to dealing with recurring threat of flooding.

Elevated buildings to mitigate flood problems

In the Mekong Delta region of Vietnam, buildings are constructed on the most elevated land or river embankments and, where necessary, sites are raised by landfill. Many houses have a platform constructed in the main living room paved with ceramic tile or other waterproof material that serves as an emergency refuge. Some dwellings also have a loft for a similar purpose.

In flood-prone central Thailand, the most typical form of flood adaptation is the elevation of buildings on stilts. During drier periods, the under-croft space is used for a variety of domestic functions.

In the world’s largest river delta in Bangladesh, settlements are built on mounds created by raising the land with soil excavated from fishponds or drainage channels. Constructing buildings on a raised plinth of compacted earth gives additional flood proofing. In very low-lying areas, buildings are raised on stilts.

House being built on stilts on an earthen mound in Bangladesh © Iftekhar Ahmed

Opportunity for storage of drinking water and safe sanitation

Flood-prone areas that experience additional difficulties due to climate change face serious challenges concerning drinking water and sanitation. They require a special focus on Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG 6).

Houses protected from floods provide an opportunity for storage of drinking water and safe sanitation. Such housing also relates to SDG 13 on Climate Action, particularly its Target 13.1, which is concerned with strengthening resilience and adaptive capacity to climate-related disasters such as floods. To complement existing governmental and non-governmental initiatives, drawing on local vernacular design knowledge, as evident in Asian flood-adaptive building patterns, can prove effective.

Future long-term strategies for flood-adaptive housing

While the SDGs provide a structure for action until 2030, beyond that timeframe a range of uncertainties can be expected to magnify and possibly prevail, even if the SDG targets and indicators are met to a satisfactory level. Climate change is one of the most pressing challenges for the planet, and while flood-adaptive vernacular housing has coped well in the past, the lessons gained from this experience need to inform future long-term strategies for dealing with a magnified risk context where previous impact thresholds will be exceeded.

Traditional and innovative approaches will need to be harmonised, with scientific knowledge drawing on traditional knowledge of vernacular design and construction practices.

Floods aren’t the only threat

The COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated the world’s vulnerability to bio-hazards. Alongside that, massive demographic transitions relating to human conflicts exacerbates this vulnerability. It is a trend that may continue and assume different forms in the future.

Traditional ways of learning, sharing and interacting reflected in vernacular building practices offer the potential to address these challenges through a more sensitive relationship with nature. Future research, knowledge generation and dissemination, together with action, will therefore need to be aligned to such a strategy.   

Contribution to the sustainable development goals post-2030

Industrial sectors

  • Water supply; sewerage, waste management and remediation activities
  • Construction
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    Check the author's bio

    Iftekhar Ahmed

    Iftekhar Ahmed

    University of Newcastle

    PhD Associate Professor in Construction Management

    Dr Iftekhar Ahmed is an Associate Professor in Construction Management and Disaster Resilience, School of Architecture and Built Environment, University of Newcastle, Australia. He teaches policy and social considerations in disaster risk reduction, disaster resilience and management in the built environment and UN Sustainable Development Goals, and conducts research on disaster resilience, climate change adaptation, participatory development and urbanisation in the Asia-Pacific region.

    Dr Ahmed completed his PhD at Oxford Brookes University, UK, has a Master of Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), USA, and Bachelor of Architecture from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), India. He has worked at the Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC), Thailand, and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Bangladesh, and taught at the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET). Dr Ahmed serves as a consultant and technical advisor for international development and humanitarian agencies and has written several books and many peer-reviewed publications.

    Contribution to story

    • This is “HABITAT: Embracing Change in the Post 2030 Future” Exhibition designed and curated by Dr Sandra Piesik, 3 ideas B.V in collaboration with HABITAT Coalition and VITO
    • Copy editing by Katleen Vandormael, Communication Manager G-STIC, VITO
    • Cover image: Village in Bangladesh built on wooden piles as it is sinking and submerging as the water levels in this south east Asian country are rising due to climate change and global warming © StevenK, Shutterstock
    • “HABITAT: Vernacular Architecture for a Changing Planet” published by Thames & Hudson
    • “HABITAT: Vernacular Architecture for a Changing Planet” published by Abrams
    • “Habitat: Traditionelle Bauweisen für den globalen Wandel” published by DETAIL Special
    • “Habiter la planète: Atlas mondial de l’architecture vernaculaire” published by Flammarion First Prize Winner at “J’aime le livre d’art”, Paris 2017
    • “HABITAT: Arquitectura vernácula para un planeta cambiante” published by Blume

    Check the author's bio

    Iftekhar Ahmed

    Iftekhar Ahmed

    University of Newcastle

    PhD Associate Professor in Construction Management

    Dr Iftekhar Ahmed is an Associate Professor in Construction Management and Disaster Resilience, School of Architecture and Built Environment, University of Newcastle, Australia. He teaches policy and social considerations in disaster risk reduction, disaster resilience and management in the built environment and UN Sustainable Development Goals, and conducts research on disaster resilience, climate change adaptation, participatory development and urbanisation in the Asia-Pacific region.

    Dr Ahmed completed his PhD at Oxford Brookes University, UK, has a Master of Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), USA, and Bachelor of Architecture from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), India. He has worked at the Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC), Thailand, and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Bangladesh, and taught at the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET). Dr Ahmed serves as a consultant and technical advisor for international development and humanitarian agencies and has written several books and many peer-reviewed publications.

    Contribution to story

    • This is “HABITAT: Embracing Change in the Post 2030 Future” Exhibition designed and curated by Dr Sandra Piesik, 3 ideas B.V in collaboration with HABITAT Coalition and VITO
    • Copy editing by Katleen Vandormael, Communication Manager G-STIC, VITO
    • Cover image: Village in Bangladesh built on wooden piles as it is sinking and submerging as the water levels in this south east Asian country are rising due to climate change and global warming © StevenK, Shutterstock
    • “HABITAT: Vernacular Architecture for a Changing Planet” published by Thames & Hudson
    • “HABITAT: Vernacular Architecture for a Changing Planet” published by Abrams
    • “Habitat: Traditionelle Bauweisen für den globalen Wandel” published by DETAIL Special
    • “Habiter la planète: Atlas mondial de l’architecture vernaculaire” published by Flammarion First Prize Winner at “J’aime le livre d’art”, Paris 2017
    • “HABITAT: Arquitectura vernácula para un planeta cambiante” published by Blume