Urbanisation modifies the natural hydrological cycle and aggravates floods. If the limits imposed by the natural environment are respected in the urban planning process, it is expected that the city resulting from this process will be able to coexist with floods, suffering minor damages. In this context, this work uses the concept of low-impact development (LID) to ‘go back in time’, with the aid of mathematical modelling tools, identifying an earlier moment of initial development of the city of Mesquita, in Brazil, to evaluate the flooding situation at that time and compare it with the current situation, seeking to understand how the worsening process of the urban floods evolved. Then, an alternative growth pattern is modelled from the past to the present, revising urban development guidelines to incorporate flood concerns and LID concepts. The main findings indicate that flood flows need space; the bottom of the valleys and the riverine areas should be preserved as open spaces to accommodate floods, and LID can help in preventing floods, but the excess of imperviousness is critical and very difficult to reverse.

中文翻译：

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低影响发展对设计降雨事件的防洪影响

城市化改变了自然水文循环并加剧了洪水。如果在城市规划过程中遵守自然环境所施加的限制，则可以预期由此过程产生的城市将能够与洪水共存，并遭受较小的破坏。在这种情况下，这项工作使用低影响力开发（LID）的概念“借助时光倒流”，借助数学建模工具，确定了巴西梅斯基塔市初步发展的较早时刻，以期评估当时的洪水状况，并将其与当前状况进行比较，以了解城市洪水的恶化过程是如何演变的。然后，模拟了过去到现在的替代增长模式，修订了城市发展指南以纳入洪水关注和LID概念。主要发现表明，洪水需要空间。山谷底部和河流地区应保留为开放空间，以容纳洪水，LID可以帮助防止洪水，但是不可渗透的程度至关重要，而且很难扭转。