How to Exchange Stories of Local Flood Resilience From Flood Rich Areas to the Flooded Areas of the Future

Abstract

ABSTRACT Flood risk communication requires strong attention to message, messenger and timing within the adaptive cycle. This paper evaluates research that used a co-production of knowledge model to create digital stories from an archive of flood memories, garnered from residents affected by the severe UK summer 2007 floods. We explored whether a knowledge exchange process could: deliver on community members’ desires to share lay flood knowledge for local resilience; inject experience of new digital media to support local/national flood risk management agencies, and meet aspirations of academic researchers to explore how flood memories might contribute to building local capital for resilience. We found more fluid versions of co-production were needed, reflecting how roles of researcher, participant and organization continually shifted throughout the process, with a “knowledge brokering/ technology capital” role for the researcher. Digital storytelling did ultimately allow personal stories to travel beyond flood-affected areas, and be shared within communities and flood risk management organizations, allowing peer-to-peer communication of flood resilience knowledge beyond the local.