Objective: This study aims to assess and rank urban resilience in the inefficient and deteriorated urban fabrics of Abadan City against two major climatic stresses, flooding and rising temperature. The assessment is grounded in an integrated framework combining physical–spatial, environmental, social, economic, and institutional indicators within the ESA framework.
Method: The research adopts an applied, analytical–spatial approach. A total of 36 indicators were developed across the three ESA components, and corresponding spatial layers were generated using GIS. Indicator weighting was conducted through the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) with the participation of 10 experts, achieving a consistency ratio of less than 0.1. After standardization on a 1–5 scale, the layers were integrated using weighted overlay analysis. Data collection relied on documentary sources, remote sensing, and field surveys.
Results: The results show that resilience in Abadan’s deteriorated urban fabrics is spatially heterogeneous, with climatic and infrastructural factors having the greatest influence. The highest indicator weights in the three components belong respectively to LST, the surface water drainage network, and access to firefighting and medical services. Layer overlay analysis indicates that about 40 percent of deteriorated residential areas fall within low or very low resilience levels, with the lowest resilience observed in the western parts of Tayeb–Kefisheh, as well as in Eastern Salij and Sedeh - Jamshidabad.
Conclusions: Low resilience results from the simultaneous presence of high exposure and sensitivity (surface heat, flood risk, density and deterioration, lack of open spaces) and, in some cases, insufficient adaptive capacity. Therefore, the proposed strategies focus on reducing exposure and sensitivity (improving surface water drainage, upgrading urban form and street networks, expanding green spaces, and nature‑based solutions) while strengthening services and institutional–social capacity, with priority given to low‑resilience neighborhoods. |