Understanding flood in Kosovo: Spatial patterns, urban influences and implications for resilience in Lumbardhi i Pejës and Klina catchments

Intensive and uncontrolled urbanization is one of the most challenging problems related to the probability of future floods due to alterations in local hydrological conditions and a rise in flood vulnerability. The main aim of the study was to assess the impact of unregulated urbanization on flood extent in two selected catchments, Lumbardhi i Pejës and Klina, located in Kosovo. To identify differences between catchments, changes in land cover type and rainfall-runoff interactions were investigated. Additionally, the dynamics of the urbanization process were evaluated for river valleys on the country scale. The results confirm that uncontrolled urbanization has an impact on the escalation of peak discharge and increases the areas affected by flash floods and floodplains. The analysis indicated that the lack of spatial planning policies in Kosovo led to uncontrolled urban development in flood valleys and the construction of barriers in natural flow paths in the period 2006–2018. On the country scale, urban areas located in natural valleys increased from 3.96 % to 11.53 %. The spatial pattern and area of urban floods were highly correlated with existing barriers, distance from natural flow paths, and slope value. Urban planning strategies based on open-access satellites including optical and radar sensors is related to inadequate spatial resolution for urban flood mapping. Additionally, flood dynamics needs to be monitored with higher temporal resolution.