Understanding the shift toward a risk-based approach in flood risk management, a comparative case study of three Italian rivers

Abstract

Flooding is a threatening human/climate-induced hazard and the expected increase in the frequency and severity of floods is challenging cities worldwide. Modern flood risk management advocates the diversification of measures and strategies to face floods. This diversification is endorsed by the risk-based approach that – unlike the standards-based approach – emphasizes the need of addressing both the probability and consequences of floods and stresses the importance of collaboration between spatial planners and water managers in the field of flood risk management. In this paper, the politicized Institutional Analysis and Development (IAD) framework is used as an analytical ordering device to systematically examine the interplay between discursive, institutional, and contextual factors in enabling or hampering the shift toward a risk-based approach in flood management policies for the Metropolitan City of Naples and the Metropolitan City of Milan. Striking similarities across the cases and recurring patterns reveal three main entangled governance issues hampering the shift toward a risk-based approach, namely: poor coordination across levels of government, communities of actors, and policy domains. The paper concludes with a set of recommendations for policy-makers on how to address these three governance challenges for successful flood adaptation policy responses.