Bottom‐up citizen initiatives as emergent actors in flood risk management: Mapping roles, relations and limitations

Abstract

The recent shift to individualisation of flood risk calls for a stronger involvement of private actors. Bottom‐up citizen initiatives (BUIs) may bring together governmental bodies with people at risk. Drawing on a screening of existing BUIs in Europe, North America, and Australia and an in‐depth analysis of three study sites, this paper maps BUI activities to stages in the risk management cycle and discusses the institutional, relational and social proximity between BUIs and other stakeholders. Flood BUIs often take over roles that the authorities are not willing or able to fulfil. BUIs emerge out of frustration with current risk policies, after a catastrophic flood event, government‐initiated engagement projects or targeted funding opportunities. BUIs can take different forms, ranging from oppositional pressure groups, self‐help movements for disaster response and recovery, to initiatives formally installed by law. While self‐organised BUIs benefit from high proximity to their home communities, formalised BUIs are deeper embedded in existing institutional structures. In order to gain a stronger voice in the risk debate, BUIs need to expand from the local level to catchment areas and exchange expertise and resources in nationwide or cross‐border networks. However, BUIs may create parallel political structures that are not democratically legitimised.

Implementation of property‐level flood risk adaptation (PLFRA) measures: Choices and decisions

“…Implementing PLFRA measures focuses mainly on the individual household level because technical protection schemes are often understood as collective flood risk management strategies. The implication is that policy documents and academic research center on individuals and only in rare cases on collective actions and activities (Burns & Slovic, ; Seebauer, Ortner, Babcicky, & Thaler, ; Thaler & Seebauer, ). Consequently, the critical question focuses on what drives/motivates private people to adapt to flood hazards.…”

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

“…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). 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).…”

Analysis of the Actions and Motivations of a Community during the 2017 Torrential Rains in Northern Kyushu, Japan

“…This is the "bottom-up approach". Responsibilities and initiatives need to be well-balanced between local residents and the government [5]. As an international strategy, the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction promotes resilience building using a top-down approach at the global level and disaster preparedness and early warning built up through a bottom-up approach at the community level [6][7][8].…”