Spatial planning and flood hazard management: evolution and legal framework analysis at national level

Abstract

Over the last quarter of a century, state and autonomous community regulations on land and spatial planning have undergone important conceptual and procedural changes. Among the most relevant changes, is the multitude of regulatory conditions and tools that support risk studies with the intention of achieving adequate territorial planning of the area to be managed. Consequently, this paper analyses how flood risk management has been considered and integrated throughout the different urban planning regulations that have governed the extensive Spanish legal framework, explaining the main contributions, the problems detected during its application, as well as the current state of the matter. As a conclusion, in spite of the gradual and currently measured incorporation of conditioning factors in flood areas, the current regulatory framework presents a high level of sensitivity to this type of hazard.