Urmia University Geography and Regional Future Studies 2981-118X 3 3 2025 11 22 Identifying and analyzing the indicators affecting urban flooding with a futures research approach (Case study: Talesh city) Identifying and analyzing the indicators affecting urban flooding with a futures research approach (Case study: Talesh city) 80 94 121789 10.30466/grfs.2025.56169.1120 FA Behnam Bagheri Department of Geography, Faculty of Social Sciences, Payame Noor University, Tehran, Iran. 0000-0001-6601-1894 Seyedeh Freya Aghayri Department of Geography and Urban Planning, Faculty of Science, Islamic Azad University, Ardabil, Iran Journal Article 2025 05 11 Flooding is one of the hazards that has caused a lot of damage in different regions in recent years. Flooding is a devastating and destructive factor and is one of the hazards that causes a lot of financial and human losses every year. The aim of this research is to identify and analyze the key indicators that affect urban flooding in Talesh city. This research is applied in terms of purpose and descriptive-analytical in terms of method with a futures research approach. The Delphi technique, as well as the documentary and field survey methods, were used to collect information. The statistical population of this study was 25 urban experts who were selected based on snowball sampling. Among the 29 main variables that were selected by experts using the Delphi method, based on the experts' scoring in the interaction matrix and entering these scores into the MINMAC software, the results showed that 9 factors were identified as key factors and effective indicators for causing floods in Talesh city, which are: precipitation, vegetation, tree cutting, creation of agricultural lands, development of planning at the county level, county management, plowing in the direction of the slope, development of settlements in the river area, and population density. It is important to note that the creation of agricultural lands based on cutting trees and destroying vegetation and increasing population, and other important factors, in addition to heavy rainfall in the region, are the main cause of flooding in Talesh city. Flooding is one of the hazards that has caused a lot of damage in different regions in recent years. Flooding is a devastating and destructive factor and is one of the hazards that causes a lot of financial and human losses every year. The aim of this research is to identify and analyze the key indicators that affect urban flooding in Talesh city. This research is applied in terms of purpose and descriptive-analytical in terms of method with a futures research approach. The Delphi technique, as well as the documentary and field survey methods, were used to collect information. The statistical population of this study was 25 urban experts who were selected based on snowball sampling. Among the 29 main variables that were selected by experts using the Delphi method, based on the experts' scoring in the interaction matrix and entering these scores into the MINMAC software, the results showed that 9 factors were identified as key factors and effective indicators for causing floods in Talesh city, which are: precipitation, vegetation, tree cutting, creation of agricultural lands, development of planning at the county level, county management, plowing in the direction of the slope, development of settlements in the river area, and population density. It is important to note that the creation of agricultural lands based on cutting trees and destroying vegetation and increasing population, and other important factors, in addition to heavy rainfall in the region, are the main cause of flooding in Talesh city. https://grfs.urmia.ac.ir/article_121789_8ad663ef5b6383bc3a31ef084af8450f.pdf