València is Spain’s third-largest city and the capital of the Valencian Autonomous Community.
Located on the Mediterranean coast at the mouth of the Turia River, it is a major port city bordered inland by low mountain ranges and historically shaped by wetlands and peri-urban agriculture.
Overview
The municipality itself is relatively compact, while much of the surrounding metropolitan area urbanised later—particularly during post-war expansion under the Franco regime and the construction boom of the late 1990s to mid-2000s.
During these periods, former floodplains, agricultural land, and natural drainage corridors were rapidly transformed into housing estates, industrial parks, retail areas, and transport infrastructure, fundamentally altering the region’s hydrology.²³
Map of Valencia
Climate risk
València is highly exposed to Mediterranean flood events, particularly intense rainfall episodes known as gota fría (Depresión Aislada en Niveles Altos, DANA).
On 29 October 2024, one of these systems triggered catastrophic flooding across eastern Spain, with the Valencia region among the hardest hit. Rainfall in inland catchments exceeded 300–500 litres per square metre within 24 hours, with some areas receiving the equivalent of a year’s rainfall in a single day.
The disaster caused at least 232 deaths—most of them in Valencia province—and resulted in an estimated €10.7 billion in damages. In several areas, flooding persisted for more than two weeks due to saturated soils, damaged drainage systems, and blocked outlets to the sea.
Beyond the intensity of the rainfall, the event exposed how flood impacts were shaped by land use and infrastructure. The Rambla del Poyo, a normally dry seasonal ravine south of the city, experienced flows far beyond its engineered capacity, overtopping its banks and inundating municipalities in l’Horta Sud.⁵ Meanwhile, major transport infrastructures such as the V-31 (Pista de Silla), built across historic floodplains, acted as barriers that trapped and redirected water into residential areas.
Aftermath of the DANA in Valencia, Spain.
Climate adaptation policy
València’s approach to flood risk has been shaped by large-scale engineering solutions and evolving emergency management practices.
Flooding has long been part of the city’s history. The most significant event, the Great Flood of 1957, devastated the city when a similar gota fría caused the Turia River to overflow, resulting in at least 81 official deaths, with some estimates as high as 300.
In response, the Franco regime launched a large-scale hydrological intervention known as Plan Sur, which diverted the Turia River into a new southern channel designed to protect the city centre from future floods.
During the 2024 DANA event, this system largely protected central València. However, it also illustrates how flood protection can redistribute risk: while the city centre remained safe, surrounding municipalities were left more exposed.
The emergency response was widely criticised, particularly for delayed warnings and an underestimation of the event’s severity, which contributed to the high death toll.
Migration history
Over the past 15–20 years, València has become increasingly diverse, shaped by both intra-EU mobility and migration from Latin America, Eastern Europe, North Africa, and parts of Asia. Today, close to one fifth of residents hold foreign nationality.
Current snapshot
Settlement patterns are uneven across the city and metropolitan region. Central neighbourhoods such as Russafa and peripheral working-class areas like Orriols have long had high proportions of migrant residents, although ongoing processes of gentrification and displacement are reshaping these patterns.
In the wider metropolitan belt—particularly in l’Horta Sud—migrant and lower-income households are disproportionately concentrated in dense rental housing near industrial zones, transport infrastructure, and flood-prone land. This spatial concentration increases their exposure to climate risks and highlights the intersection of environmental hazards with social and economic inequality.