Flooding in the built environment: the roles of social responsibility and risk perception in extreme event decision making

The inextricable link between people, their built environment and its relationship with flooding has been demonstrated within the academic literature which indicates that human activity is having a large, detrimental effect upon the environment, increasing climate change and thereby increasing the likelihood of extreme weather events, such as severe flooding. Despite well-documented evidence of the potential physical impacts of flooding, the research has so far neglected to fully investigate the manner by which decision making at community level could influence the extent of damage and the resilience to flooding. This paper attempts to investigate this gap in knowledge by exploring ways in which a better understanding of the concepts of social responsibility and risk perception could potentially increase community resilience. There is particular emphasis upon the interrelationships between the social responsibility, risk perception and the decision making process. These relationships may affect people’s attitudes and behaviour towards the issues of climate change and extreme weather events. This paper also provides an argument for future research approaches to better understand resilience at the level of the community by exploring the individual and interconnected decision making of householders, small businesses and policy makers. The arguments presented here will be of interest to community leaders and provide considerations for built environment professionals embarking on the development of resilience measures, with considerations suggested for future research within this field