Abstract

This article addresses problems related to urban growth in areas considered vulnerable to natural risks, in particular the risks of flooding and waterlogging in areas of the city of Padre Las Casas, Chile. These risks arose due to a lack of urban planning in the face of major urban growth and development over the last thirty years, with the city experiencing a growth rate of 29.5% between 2002 and 2017 (CCHC. Cámara Regional Temuco, 2019). On this basis, we seek to understand the importance of considering preexisting natural elements in urban planning in order to decrease the natural threats that may be present, understanding the urban and rural environment as something unpredictable and in constant flux. Finally, we research urban resilience and adaptability strategies in the face of natural risks and the possible vulnerabilities of a system in relation to flooding and waterlogging threats, in order to define a methodology that permits intervention and restoration of natural elements in that location with the objective of mitigating these threats and ensuring the adaptation and transformation capacity of the most at-risk sectors. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2025.