Water under the bridge: how place meanings shape second homeowners’ engagement in flood risk management in southern Denmark

Abstract

In Europe, climate change is expected to increase the frequency of extreme precipitation events. Consequently, low-lying areas in southern Denmark may experience increased flooding. In this predominantly rural landscape, large areas of wetland were initially reclaimed for agricultural purposes, before being developed into recreational areas for second homes, many of which are now vulnerable to flooding. Local and national policy on flood risk management and climate change adaptation is based on the assumption that effective adaptation actions require citizen engagement. However, local authorities’ efforts to motivate homeowners to engage in collective actions have had mixed results. We adopt a case study approach, and explore how second homeowners’ place meanings shape, and are shaped by, how they experienced a climate-related hazard, and how this, in turn, informs their motivation to engage in collective flood risk management efforts. Specifically, in-depth narrative interviews were conducted with second homeowners who experienced an extreme weather event in 2011, which led to severe flooding. The findings show that place meanings can vary within the same stakeholder group, in this case, second homeowners. However, both second homeowners whose place meanings can be likened to that of a “temporary visitor”, and those whose place meanings are more akin to that of the “permanent resident” are able to mobilise their place meanings to contest engagement in local authorities’ flood risk reduction initiatives.