Exploring opportunities for social learning in community response to natural hazards : A case study of Morpeth Flood Action Group, northwest of England

Social learning has had a growing recognition in the environmental debate and is argued to increase resilience. However, recent literature has spurred a discussion on shortcomings of the use of the concept. This study aims to add more empirical understanding to social learning by using a case study of flood hazards in Morpeth, England, as a critical lens. Moreover, there has been a call for more community involvement in disaster mitigation as well as increased understanding of long-term learning dimension. Therefore this research has focused on a self-organised community group, Morpeth Flood Action Group, triggered by a community response to a flood hazard. The findings, based on qualitative interviews and participatory observations, suggest various elements of, and opportunities for social learning in the organisational viability and the everyday operation of the studied community group. The findings indicate that social network over scales, institutional development by a bottom up processes and long-term possibilities for learning are instrumental. This study has identified enabling key factors for local learning process to happen and to be sustainable, which can be instructive for future development for local response capacity in disaster risk reduction and resilience. The study concludes that this type of spontaneously, “real-world” approach to social learning for can be a suitable study object for future empirical research