Relocating a Flood-Affected Community: Good Planning or Good Politics?

Sipe, Neil; Vella, Karen

doi:10.1080/01944363.2014.976586

Cited by 49 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…This strategy typically seeks to scientifically characterize and quantify risks, and translate this data into language that is useful for policy and practice, such as probability assessments, cost-benefit analyses, or confidence/likelihood thresholds. However, as the projected costs of protection or damage rise, and the difficulties in predicting long-term futures become more evident, governments and communities around the world are beginning to recognize managed retreat is an important approach to reduce risk and build resilience over the long-term [1][2][3][4][5][6][7].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Uncertainty Contagion: Revealing the Interrelated, Cascading Uncertainties of Managed Retreat

2020

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Managed retreat presents a dilemma for at-risk communities, and the planning practitioners and decisionmakers working to address natural hazard and climate change risks. The dilemma boils down to the countervailing imperatives of moving out of harm’s way versus retaining ties to community and place. While there are growing calls for its use, managed retreat remains challenging in practice—across diverse settings. The approach has been tested with varied success in a number of countries, but significant uncertainties remain, such as regarding who ‘manages’ it, when and how it should occur, at whose cost, and to where? Drawing upon a case study of managed retreat in New Zealand, this research uncovers intersecting and compounding arenas of uncertainty regarding the approach, responsibilities, legality, funding, politics and logistics of managed retreat. Where uncertainty is present in one domain, it spreads into others creating a cascading series of political, personal and professional risks that impact trust in science and authority and affect people’s lives and risk exposure. In revealing these mutually dependent dimensions of uncertainty, we argue there is merit in refocusing attention away from policy deficits, barrier approaches or technical assessments as a means to provide ‘certainty’, to instead focus on the relations between forms of knowledge and coordinating interactions between the diverse arenas: scientific, governance, financial, political and socio-cultural; otherwise uncertainty can spread like a contagion, making inaction more likely.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Uncertainty Contagion: Revealing the Interrelated, Cascading Uncertainties of Managed Retreat

2020

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“…Higher levels of government often do not become involved in relocation issues at the local level since it requires buy-in from community leaders and compliance to existing planning regulations (Sipe and Vella 2014). 58 Moreover, the success of relocation policies depends on the participation of citizens and community leaders in the early stages of the decision-making processes (Sipe and Vella 2014 King et al (2014) were also reached by this thesis. Respondents that did not expect to live longer in their property were more likely to relocate.…”

Section: Previous Studies On Relocationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…According to the policy study of Sipe and Vella (2014), the success of the Grantham relocation was due to quick action and political leadership. Sipe and Vella explained that the existence of 'a small, highly connected team that made decisions rapidly ' (2014:411) was an important factor to expedite the relocation process.…”

Section: Previous Studies On Relocationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Individual Risk Perception and Flood Mitigation: An Empirical Study of Protective Actions in Australia

Uehara¹

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The Australian government has increasingly expected that individuals collaborate with public efforts to reduce hazard risks by taking some action themselves. This expectation, however, has failed to consider the complexity of the decision-making process at the household level.Individual decision making is rather complex as it involves a wide range of factors that should be taken into account before the government can assess to what extent individuals at risk can effectively contribute to the reduction of hazard risks. This is where a theoretical framework makes a contribution to this thesis by guiding data collection and analysis. Thus this thesis resorts to a comprehensive socio-psychological theory to generate empirical data on the different factors affecting decision making under uncertainty.The testing of this comprehensive theoretical framework called Protection Motivation Theory focuses on the explanatory variables of risk perception ('threat appraisal') and coping measures ('coping appraisal'). Threat appraisal factors have to do with the perception of hazard risks and coping appraisal variables measure the perceived ability of an individual to take action. The novelties of this study are i) the application of this theoretical framework, which has already been tested in order countries, for the first time in Australia, more specifically among householders living in flood-prone locations in Southeast Queensland; ii) a dataset featuring significant variability in terms of vulnerability and exposure levels of the population at risk; iii) the assessment of how heuristics and biases affect decision making under uncertainty; and iv) qualitative data to unpack non-intuitive associations and understand the role that the nature of threats and protective actions play in the decisions of householders to take protective actions. An interesting finding from previous studies is that coping factors are better predictors for protective actions than risk perception. This thesis then will verify whether this association is also observed in the Australian context. However, emerging from this study, is the argument that individuals at risk living in this region make decisions which do factor in their hazard risk perceptions and their perceived capacity to take action; however, this decision-making process also take into account the vulnerability conditions of the population at risk. Also, qualitative data suggest that exposure to hazard risks shaped by the nature of the threat and the characteristics of the protective action also play a role in the decision of householders to take preventive measures that reduce or eliminate flood damage. The findings on how these conditions and circumstances influence decisions made under uncertain scenarios are the main contribution of this thesis to the literature. 3This contribution, however, is not only relevant within the academic community. If Australian authorities are to enhance the resilience of communities at risk to potential damage caused by hazards, it needs first to ha...

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“…Nevertheless, relocation causes intensive social and economic impacts to individual well-being and socio-economic performances [9,[14][15][16]28,34]. The term relocation is also commonly used in European and international FRM literature [9,12,13,35]. Yet, in contrast to other parts of the world, large-scale relocation is rarely applied in Central Europe.…”

Section: Planned Relocation In Flood Risk Managementmentioning

confidence: 99%

Successful Small-Scale Household Relocation after a Millennial Flood Event in Simbach, Germany 2016

Mayr

Thaler

Hübl

2020

Water

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International and national laws promote stakeholder collaboration and the inclusion of the community in flood risk management (FRM). Currently, relocation as a mitigation strategy against river floods in Central Europe is rarely applied. FRM needs sufficient preparation and engagement for successful implementation of household relocation. This case study deals with the extreme flood event in June 2016 at the Simbach torrent in Bavaria (Germany). The focus lies on the planning process of structural flood defense measures and the small-scale relocation of 11 households. The adaptive planning process started right after the damaging event and was executed in collaboration with authorities and stakeholders of various levels and disciplines while at the same time including the local citizens. Residents were informed early, and personal communication, as well as trust in actors, enhanced the acceptance of decisions. Although technical knowledge was shared and concerns discussed, resident participation in the planning process was restricted. However, the given pre-conditions were found beneficial. In addition, a compensation payment contributed to a successful process. Thus, the study illustrates a positive image of the implementation of the alleviation scheme. Furthermore, preliminary planning activities and precautionary behavior (e.g., natural hazard insurance) were noted as significant factors to enable effective integrated flood risk management (IFRM).

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Relocating a Flood-Affected Community: Good Planning or Good Politics?

Cited by 49 publications

References 11 publications

The Uncertainty Contagion: Revealing the Interrelated, Cascading Uncertainties of Managed Retreat

The Uncertainty Contagion: Revealing the Interrelated, Cascading Uncertainties of Managed Retreat

Individual Risk Perception and Flood Mitigation: An Empirical Study of Protective Actions in Australia

Successful Small-Scale Household Relocation after a Millennial Flood Event in Simbach, Germany 2016

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