scholarly journals Fragmentation, commodification and responsibilisation in the governing of flood risk mitigation in Sweden

2020 ◽  
pp. 239965442094072
Author(s):  
Per Becker
Keyword(s):  
Social Network ◽  
Flood Risk ◽  
Catchment Area ◽  
Institutional Environment ◽  
Risk Mitigation ◽  
Liberal Society ◽  
Policy Changes ◽  
The Face ◽  
Systemic Constraints

The purpose of this paper is to increase our understanding of the governing of flood risk mitigation in advanced liberal society, through an in-depth Swedish case study. By combining social network analysis and genealogy, this paper investigates who is involved, how they organise, their modes of thinking, how they mitigate flood risk, as well as how such regime of practises have come into being. The findings suggest dominant rationalities that reduce the actual complexity of flood risk in spatial and temporal terms to fit the legal and institutional environment. The resulting fragmentation is associated with a commodification of flood risk mitigation, in which actors expect to be able to procure modules of safety and sustainability on the market. This commodification materialises in a vacuum of responsibilisation, when obligations are imposed without commensurate guidelines. These processes of fragmentation, commodification, and responsibilisation are core constituents of neoliberalisation, which is clearly shaping the governing of flood risk mitigation even in Sweden; a bastion of the strong welfare state. Regardless of the notable individual capacities of the involved actors, systemic constraints in the governmentality have generated these detrimental processes in the face of overwhelming complexity. These systemic constraints must be removed or overcome for the governing of flood risk mitigation to match the complexity of flood risk in the catchment area. This paper thus provides input that can inform policy changes for a more sustainable future in the face of unprecedented change.

scholarly journals The Problem of Fit in Flood Risk Governance: Regulative, Normative, and Cultural-Cognitive Deliberations

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 281-293
Author(s):  
Per Becker
Keyword(s):  
Flood Risk ◽  
Catchment Area ◽  
Risk Mitigation ◽  
Institutional Arrangements ◽  
Risk Governance ◽  
Liberal Democracies ◽  
Institutional Fit ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Hydrological System

Flood risk is a growing global concern that is not only affecting developing countries, but also the sustainable development of the most affluent liberal democracies. This has attracted attention to the systems governing flood risk across administrative levels, which vary between countries, but are relatively similar in the Nordic region, with both responsibilities and resources largely decentralized to the municipal level. However, floods tend not to be bounded by conventional borders but demand attention to the catchment area as a whole. Influential voices have long argued the importance of fit between the biophysical basis of an issue and the institutional arrangements of actors engaging in its governance. The article investigates such institutional fit in flood risk governance, based on a case study of flood risk mitigation in the Höje Å catchment area in Southern Sweden. Analyzing a unique dataset comprising 217 interviews with all individual formal actors actively engaged in flood risk mitigation in the catchment area illuminates a ‘problem of fit’ between the hydrological system behind flood risk and the institutional arrangements of its governance. This ‘problem of fit’ is not only visible along the borders of the municipalities composing the catchment area, but also of the spatial planning areas within them. The article deliberates on regulative, normative, and cultural-cognitive elements that align to lock flood risk governance into a regime of practices that, if not addressed, continues to undermine society’s ability to anticipate and adapt to the expected escalation of flood risk in a changing climate.

The Governance of Global Banking in the Face of Complexity

2019 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 177-204
Author(s):  
Matteo Ortino
Keyword(s):  
Institutional Environment ◽  
Banking Regulation ◽  
Specific Pattern ◽  
The Public ◽  
Global Banking ◽  
The Face ◽  
Institutional Dimension ◽  
Regulatory Powers ◽  
The Military

ABSTRACT The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision and the composite wider legal and institutional environment to which it is part provide a useful case study to illustrate how complexity is addressed in the public policy realm. As its central proposition, this article argues that it is possible to identify a specific pattern and logic underlying the governance of global banking today. The pattern concerns the institutional dimension of global banking regulation, particularly with respect to the distribution of regulatory powers among the various actors involved, and the legal relationships between these actors. The overall pattern seems to follow a certain logic, which will be explored and explained borrowing the military distinction between strategy, operations, and tactics.

scholarly journals Long-Term Improvement in Precautions for Flood Risk Mitigation: A Case Study in the Low-Lying Area of Central Vietnam

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cong Dinh Nguyen ◽  
Fumikazu Ubukata ◽  
Quang Tan Nguyen ◽  
Hoang Ha Vo
Keyword(s):  
Flood Risk ◽  
Risk Mitigation ◽  
Disaster Prevention ◽  
Central Vietnam ◽  
Local Actors ◽  
Space Function ◽  
Major Floods ◽  
Quantitative And Qualitative Methods

AbstractLocal actors appear as inseparable components of the integrated flood risk mitigation strategy in Vietnam. Recognizing this fact, this study examined the long-term improvement in precautions taken by commune authorities and households between two major floods in 1999 and 2017 by applying both quantitative and qualitative methods. Two flood-prone villages were selected for a survey; one in a rural area and the other in a suburban area of Thua Thien Hue Province, central Vietnam. The findings indicate that most villagers doubted the structural works’ efficacy and were dissatisfied with the current efforts of local authorities. Households’ self-preparation thus became the decisive factor in mitigating risk. While most households have paid greater attention to flood precautions in 2017, others seem to be lagging. Poverty-related barriers were the root causes restraining households in both rural and suburban villages. The suburban riverine residents were further identified as vulnerable by their limitations in upgrading structural measures, which was ascribed to the inconsistency in the ancient town’s preservation policy. This multidimensional comparison, in terms of vulnerability, emphasized the importance of space-function links in the suburb and the contradictions of different policy initiatives, such as landscape rehabilitation, disaster prevention, and livelihood maintenance.

Appraising sustainable flood risk management in the Pearl River Delta's coastal megacities: a case study of Hong Kong, China

2013 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 390-409 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. K. S. Chan ◽  
O. A. Adekola ◽  
G. Mitchell ◽  
A. T. McDonald
Keyword(s):  
Risk Management ◽  
Hong Kong ◽  
Flood Risk ◽  
Risk Mitigation ◽  
Storm Surges ◽  
Climatic Conditions ◽  
Flood Risk Management ◽  
Pearl River ◽  
The Pearl River

The Pearl River Delta (PRD) region has experienced rapid economic and population growth in the last three decades. The delta includes coastal megacities, such as Hong Kong. These low-lying urbanised coastal regions in the PRD are vulnerable to flood risks from unpredictable climatic conditions. These can result in increasing storm surges, rising sea level and intensified rainstorms causing coastal and inland flooding, all of which impact the delta. This paper has taken the coastal megacity of Hong Kong as a case, focusing on two study sites: Shenzhen River and Tai O town, chosen for their peculiar inland and coastal flood problems. A sustainable flood risk appraisal (SFRA) template was developed against which sustainable flood risk management (FRM) practices in these sites were benchmarked. Thirty-eight stakeholders were interviewed during this research in order to understand the current FRM practices, their barriers and their constraints. It was found that FRM in the case study currently focuses on hard engineering, while neglecting other important sustainability indicators. A SFRA practice that takes public participation, equity of flood preparedness and environmental friendly into account could be effective in achieving sustainable flood risk mitigation practices in Hong Kong and other coastal cities in the PRD.

scholarly journals Challenges to implementing bottom-up flood risk decision analysis frameworks: how strong are social networks of flooding professionals?

2018 ◽  
Vol 22 (11) ◽  
pp. 5657-5673 ◽  
Author(s):  
James O. Knighton ◽  
Osamu Tsuda ◽  
Rebecca Elliott ◽  
M. Todd Walter
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Social Networks ◽  
Decision Analysis ◽  
Flood Risk ◽  
Climate Adaptation ◽  
Risk Mitigation ◽  
Flood Mitigation ◽  
Climate Projections ◽  
Bottom Up

Abstract. Recent developments in bottom-up vulnerability-based decision analysis frameworks present promising opportunities for flood practitioners to simplify complex decisions regarding risk mitigation and climate adaptation. This family of methodologies relies on strong social networks among flood practitioners and the public to support careful definition of stakeholder-relevant thresholds and vulnerabilities to hazards. In parallel, flood researchers are directly considering distinct atmospheric mechanisms that induce flooding to readily incorporate information on future climate projections. We perform a case study of flood professionals actively engaged in flood risk mitigation within Tompkins County, New York, USA, a community dealing with moderate flooding, to gage how much variance exists among professionals from the perspective of establishing a bottom-up flood mitigation study from an atmospheric perspective. Results of this case study indicate disagreement among flooding professionals as to which socioeconomic losses constitute a flood, disagreement on anticipated community needs, weak understanding of climate–weather–flood linkages, and some disagreement on community perceptions of climate adaptation. In aggregate, the knowledge base of the Tompkins County flood practitioners provides a well-defined picture of community vulnerability and perceptions. Our research supports the growing evidence that collaborative interdisciplinary flood mitigation work could reduce risk, and potentially better support the implementation of emerging bottom-up decision analysis frameworks for flood mitigation and climate adaptation.

scholarly journals Social networks and farming resilience

2021 ◽  
pp. 003072702098481
Author(s):  
Ann Bruce ◽  
Cornell Jackson ◽  
Chrysa Lamprinopoulou
Keyword(s):  
Social Networks ◽  
Social Network ◽  
Social Network Analysis ◽  
Network Analysis ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Agricultural Systems ◽  
Social Challenges ◽  
High Profile ◽  
The Face

The resilience of food systems, including agricultural systems, has become a high profile issue in the face multiple disease, environmental and social challenges. Much of agriculture takes place in remote locations where social networks, or connections between individual actors, have been implicated in increasing resilience. We examine a case study of Orkney, Scotland, a remote rural location, using interviews and Social Network Analysis. This case study provides evidence indicative of resilient patterns of social networks, emphasising the importance of schools, transport links and livestock markets in creating and maintaining these networks. These domains are rarely included in agricultural policy, highlighting the need for wider framing of questions. Our research suggests Social Network Analysis is a fruitful avenue for investigating resilience of agricultural systems that can identify hitherto hidden elements.

scholarly journals Challenges to Implementing Bottom-Up Flood Risk Decision Analysis Frameworks: How Strong are Social Networks of Flooding Professionals?

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
James O. Knighton ◽  
Osamu Tsuda ◽  
Rebecca Elliott ◽  
M. Todd Walter
Keyword(s):  
Social Networks ◽  
Decision Analysis ◽  
Flood Risk ◽  
Climate Adaptation ◽  
Risk Mitigation ◽  
Flood Mitigation ◽  
Economic Losses ◽  
Climate Projections ◽  
Bottom Up

Abstract. Recent developments in bottom-up vulnerability-based decision analysis frameworks present promising opportunities for flood practitioners to simplify complex decisions regarding risk mitigation and climate adaptation. This family of methodologies relies on strong social networks among flood practitioners and the public to support careful definition of stakeholder relevant thresholds and vulnerabilities to hazards. In parallel, flood researchers are directly considering distinct atmospheric mechanisms that induce flooding to readily incorporate information on future climate projections. We perform a case study of flood professionals actively engaged in flood risk mitigation within Tompkins County, NY US, a community dealing with moderate flooding, to gage how much variance exists among professionals from the perspective of establishing a bottom-up flood mitigation study from an atmospheric perspective. Results of this case study indicate disagreement among flooding professionals as to which socio-economic losses constitute a flood, disagreement on anticipated community needs, weak understanding of climate-weather-flood linkages, and some disagreement on community perceptions on climate adaptation. In aggregate, the knowledge base of the Tompkins County flood practitioners provides a well-defined picture of community vulnerability and perceptions. Our research supports the growing evidence that collaborative interdisciplinary flood mitigation work could reduce risk, and potentially better support the implementation of emerging bottom-up decision analysis frameworks for flood mitigation and climate adaptation.

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