@article {104145,
	title = {Assessment of Urban Flood Risk Vulnerability Using a Multi-Criteria Approach and GIS: Case Study of S{\'e}tif City, Northeast Algeria},
	journal = {The Arab World Geographer},
	volume = {29},
	number = {1},
	year = {2026},
	pages = {47 {\textendash} 61},
	abstract = {
	S{\'e}tif City, located in the Eastern High-lands of Algeria, faces a resurgence of urban flooding, a phenomenon exacerbated by the soil sealing resulting from rapid urbanization (+351.67\% between 1986 and 2021) and the under-sizing of drainage infrastructure. In the context of a lack of integrated spatial assessment tools, this study aims to evaluate and map the flood vulnerability of the urban area by coupling Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP). The methodology integrated seven vulnerability criteria (five physicals and two socio-economic), whose AHP-based weighting was judged reliable (Consistency Ratio: 6.4\%). The results reveal that 45.65\% of S{\'e}tif{\textquoteright}s urban area (339.22 hectares) exhibits high to very high vulnerability. The AHP analysis identified slope (33.7\% of the weight) and land use (29.1\% of the weight) as the major determinants of this vulnerability. Critical areas, notably Ararsa, Yahyaoui, and A{\"\i}n Seba{\^a} districts, are characterized by the combination of gentle slopes and a high density of infrastructure. This work confirms the relevance of the AHP-GIS coupling in providing local authorities with an essential decision support tool for the revision of the Master Plan for Development and Urban Planning (PDAU) and for more resilient urban planning.

},
	url = {10.64903/1480-6800-29.1.47},
	author = {Melal, Akila and Bouhata, Rabah and Habibi, Yahyaoui}
}
