Oluwakemi Saudat AJIJOLA2024-06-112024-06-112023-12Ph.Dhttps://repository.lcu.edu.ng/handle/123456789/506Households in urban flood-prone areas are particularly vulnerable to flood disaster. Therefore, adaptive- design responses based on vulnerability assessment are needed to mitigate growing risk and associated impacts. This study examines critical indicators influencing vulnerability of houses in the flood-prone areas of Kosofe, Lagos, Nigeria, by assessing household socio-economic characteristics, flood attributes, Neighborhood and architectural design characteristics of dwellings, and adaptive capacities exhibited. The study which, aimed to fill gaps in empirical research on contextual factors affecting exposure, susceptibility, and resilience of flood-prone households in Nigeria, was underpinned by vulnerability, social-ecological systems and adaptive capacity theories. A cross-sectional exploratory sequential research design was adopted. Common themes emerging from focus-group discussions were used in the questionnaire formulation. The survey was conducted among 385 households in the study area, with a return rate of 84.15%. Opinion survey of 35 experts also served as a guide in selecting relevant indicators. IBM SPSS statistics was used for the descriptive and factor analysis, relative importance indexes and linear regression. With a high R2 value = 0.975, explaining approximately 98% of variance. The result of linear regression analysis shows that flood depth (P=0.000), building elevation (P=0.000), absence of surrounding vegetation (P=0.000), drainage system (P=0.000), low income (P=0.000), presence of household coping capacities (P=0.000), flood duration (P=0.02) and quality of buildings (P=0.04), with a P value less than 0.05, have the greatest impact on physical flood vulnerability. Therefore, this study concludes that the most robust adaptive architectural design strategies for disaster risk reduction in flood-prone residential neighbourhoods are embedded within the identified physical flood vulnerability indicators: flood depth, building elevation, surrounding vegetation, drainage system, low income, household coping capacities, flood duration and building quality. It is thus recommended that these critical indicators be carefully considered when developing an adaptive architectural design framework for risk reduction in flood-prone areas. Keywords: Adaptive Capacity, Exposure, Flood risk, Physical Vulnerability, Resilience, Susceptibility Word count: 300enAdaptive CapacityExposureFlood riskPhysical VulnerabilityResilienceSusceptibilityThesis