Resilient Economies Strategies for Sinking Cities and Flood Risks 2025

Conclusion Sinking cities or urban land subsidence, while often gradual and shaped by complex local and geological factors, now stands as a critical global challenge requiring urgent and coordinated action. The convergence of accelerating sea-level rise, intensifying extreme weather events and rapid urbanization signals that the risks facing cities and communities will only intensify and can compound in areas with subsidence. Proactive resilience- building must become the norm, integrated into the fabric of urban planning and development, rather than relying on managing subsidence as reactive crisis management modes. Recent years have demonstrated the consequences of inaction, including flooding risks and damage to critical infrastructure in areas with land subsidence. Embedding resilience into urban systems is vital to ensure that economies, societies and environmental ecosystems can withstand, adapt to and recover from negative impacts with minimal disruption.Collective action across the public and private sectors is essential. By adopting a systems approach and employing proven prevention, mitigation, adaptation and resilience strategies, stakeholders can minimize the risks of flooding, infrastructure damage and social disruption from land subsidence and where it is compounded by climate risks. Leadership, robust governance, evidence-based decision-making and multistakeholder collaboration, including the voices of directly affected communities, are vital to drive meaningful progress. Positioning land subsidence as a core element of climate and urban resilience agendas will empower cities, businesses and societies to secure long- term prosperity and enhance the liveability of urban environments. The moment for decisive, integrated and collaborative action is now. Resilient Economies: Strategies for Sinking Cities and Flood Risks 41