The role of risk perception in making flood risk management more effective

Abstract

Abstract.Over the last few decades, Europe has suffered from a number of severe flood events and, as a result, there has been a growing interest in probing alternative approaches to managing flood risk via prevention measures. A literature review reveals that, although in the last decades risk evaluation has been recognized as key element of risk management, and risk assessment methodologies (including risk analysis and evaluation) have been improved by including social, economic, cultural, historical and political conditions, the theoretical schemes are not yet applied in practice. One main reason for this shortcoming is that risk perception literature is mainly of universal and theoretical nature and cannot provide the necessary details to implement a comprehensive risk evaluation. This paper therefore aims to explore a procedure that allows the inclusion of stakeholders' perceptions of prevention measures in risk assessment. It proposes to adopt methods of risk communication (both one-way and two-way communication) in risk assessment with the final aim of making flood risk management more effective. The proposed procedure not only focuses on the effect of discursive risk communication on risk perception, and on achieving a shared assessment of the prevention alternatives, but also considers the effects of the communication process on perceived uncertainties, accepted risk levels, and trust in the managing institutions.The effectiveness of this combined procedure has been studied and illustrated using the example of the participatory flood prevention assessment process on the Sihl River in Zurich, Switzerland. The main findings of the case study suggest that the proposed procedure performed well, but that it needs some adaptations for it to be applicable in different contexts and to allow a (semi-) quantitative estimation of risk perception to be used as an indicator of adaptive capacity.

KULTURisk regional risk assessment methodology for water-related natural hazards – Part 2: Application to the Zurich case study

“…The local authorities are aware of this and are improving their flood management system with additional structural and non-structural measures. The assessment of public perception of these possible future measures has been presented in Buchecker et al (2013). Thus, a basis for extending the KR-RRA methodology to future flood management in the target area is provided, particularly as far as the roles and responsibilities of local communities (including decision and policy makers) in coping with risk are concerned.…”

“…The complexity of hydrological pattern of the Sihl River valley and the need for a planned strategy of prevention measures demands a broader integrated approach, in order to assess the flood risk to multiple receptors, and a suite of effective tools to identify and prioritize areas and targets at risk in order to finally evaluate the benefits of different prevention scenarios (e.g. Buchecker et al, 2013).…”

How well do the wider public accept integrated flood risk management? An empirical study in two Swiss Alpine valleys

“…Answering these questions is crucial because local support is not only needed in the form of paying tax and voting, but also because locals are expected to play an active role in hazard prevention. Very few empirical studies have addressed their perceptions of flood risk management (Buchecker et al, 2013a).…”

Assessing the Capacity to Govern Flood Risk in Cities and the Role of Contextual Factors

“…Such crosscutting contextual factors may include social-cultural factors. For example, the way that different cultures experience time, frame problems and conceive solutions [62], public-private arrangements [63], or the perception and communication of environmental risk [64][65][66], may influence the capacity-building process [67]. Moreover, urban feedback loops may be different in other world regions.…”