Pathways to enhanced microscale coastal flood risk assessment amid changing climate

The worldwide threat of coastal flood hazard due to sea level rise (SLR) and climate change poses a significant risk to socio-economic assets and coastal communities. Existing gaps in hazard categorisation, exposure assessment and vulnerability analysis suggest critical evaluations for the existing methodologies. Existing coastal flood risk methodologies, particularly at the microscale, require the evaluation of diverse methods to improve the representation of hazards, refining exposure and vulnerability analysis for decision-making and climate adaptation planning. This review elaborates on advancing precise, localised flood risk evaluation methods, integrating diverse datasets, hazard scenarios, and multi-dimensional vulnerability dimensions, thereby enhancing resilience and informed decision-making for coastal communities worldwide. Quantitative analyses were conducted in Excel, and qualitative assessments employed descriptive and narrative methods following PRISMA 2020. Results categorised risk assessment methods using tables and graphical tools like bar and pie charts to highlight trends. Key findings highlight the collection and integration of socioeconomic data, high-resolution digital elevation models (DEM), consideration of local characteristics such as topography and beach slope variations, range of flood parameters, hybrid approach by combining deterministic and probabilistic models, use of both trend extrapolation and scenario prediction techniques, comprehending interactions between storm surges and wave setup, thorough vulnerability assessment with a more balanced emphasis on physical, functional, socioeconomic, and geomorphological factors is needed. In addition to physical vulnerability, social, economic, and environmental vulnerability should also receive more attention. Future directions should strive for enhancing data integration and collecting, applying hybrid modelling approaches, extending the range of flood parameters, and taking local conditions into account. Furthermore, all components of receptors and vulnerability assessment should receive equal attention as they are also significant. Limitations include sparse data in some regions and incomplete consideration of socio-economic and environmental vulnerabilities. The review calls for methodological refinement and interdisciplinary collaboration to improve flood risk frameworks, particularly at the micro-scale.