Civil society contributions to local level flood resilience: Before, during and after the 2015 Boxing Day floods in the Upper Calder Valley

Abstract

There is an increasing emphasis on the local level as well as growing expectations regarding civil society actors in flood‐risk management in the UK. However, not enough is known about the potential contributions of civil society to flood resilience at the local level. This paper addresses this knowledge gap by conceptualising flood resilience at the local level across three phases inherent to flood disasters: pre‐flood, during the flood and post‐flood. These phases act as the foundation for this paper's exploration of the contributions of civil society to local‐level flood resilience. Data were collected before, during and after the 2015 Boxing Day floods through interviews (in 2015 and 2017) and from secondary data sources. The paper identifies the importance of time and place when analysing civil society contributions to local level flood resilience. These contributions were dynamic over time with a strong initial response that diminished over time due to apathy, “active forgetting” and lack of further exposure. Exposure and a sense of community strongly influenced civil society contributions to flood resilience in the Upper Calder Valley. Issues of representation and varying place‐based capacities were also identified as relevant for flood resilience‐based policies. These results have larger implications for our understanding of the contributions of civil society actors to flood resilience and suggest that while they can deliver better local context‐specific approaches, there needs to be caution over the long‐term sustainability and longevity of their contributions.

Characterising Local Knowledge across the Flood Risk Management Cycle: A Case Study of Southern Malawi

“…The empirical findings of this study indicate that LK is present across the different stages of the flood risk management cycle (i.e., before, during and after the flood: phases commonly used in disaster research e.g., [84]), resulting in a multidimensional and complex knowledge system, conceptually presented in Figure 3, which shows the different components of LK identified during the data analysis captured in themes. The multiple dimensions of LK form a range of mitigation, coping and adaptation (both structural and non-structural) strategies that enable communities to continue residing in areas exposed to frequent flooding.…”

Emerging citizen contributions, roles and interactions with public authorities in Dutch pluvial flood risk management

“…These concerns with traditional flood risk management (FRM) approaches have led to a growing interest in resilience in pluvial FRM. The concept of 'flood resilience' represents an acceptance that floods may happen, despite defences being in place, and also emphasizes reducing potential flood consequences and 'living with floods' (Forrest, Trell, & Woltjer, 2019;Liao, 2012;Scott, 2013). Approaches that accommodate excess rainwater and reduce pluvial flood consequences require changes in land use in the local urban environment: land that is owned and controlled by citizens.…”

“…Research has found evidence of an emerging role of communities and citizens in local FRM (Edelenbos, Van Buuren, Roth, & Winnubst, 2017;Forrest et al, 2019;Geaves & Penning-Rowsell, 2015;Harris, Shaw, Scully, Smith, & Hieke, 2017;McEwen, Holmes, Quinn, & Cobbing, 2018;O'Brien, Ambrose-Oji, Morris, Edwards, & Williams, 2014a;Seebauer, Ortner, Babcicky, & Thaler, 2018). This increasing involvement of citizens is driven by both flood experiences and national policy agendas, such as the Participation Society in the Netherlands, that seek to stimulate citizens to be more active and willing to take a greater role in their local milieu (Seebauer et al, 2018;Verhoeven & Tonkens, 2013).…”

“…This increasing involvement of citizens is driven by both flood experiences and national policy agendas, such as the Participation Society in the Netherlands, that seek to stimulate citizens to be more active and willing to take a greater role in their local milieu (Seebauer et al, 2018;Verhoeven & Tonkens, 2013). The contributions and emerging roles of citizens in local FRM can have implications for local flood resilience and for more holistic FRM approaches that draw on broader knowledge and expertise than in the past (Forrest, Trell, & Woltjer, 2017;Forrest et al, 2019;McEwen et al, 2018;McEwen & Jones, 2012;O'Brien et al, 2014a).…”

Pluvial Flooding in Utrecht: On Its Way to a Flood-Proof City

“…Accordingly, the division of responsibilities related to flood risk management is changing. A decentralising trend in flood risk management has been recognised [19], which results in a greater role for non-governmental actors [20]. These transformations are related to a more general trend, namely the shift from government to governance.…”