Governance of flood risks in The Netherlands: Interdisciplinary research into the role and meaning of risk perception

The policy on flood risk management in The Netherlands is in transition from a prevention-based approach towards a governance approach, which involves all elements of the safety chain. This implies that many more actors become involved, each with their own perception of the risks. This paper reports on an ongoing interdisciplinary research project, which studies the role of risk perceptions in the emerging governance approach. The project has four disciplinary research tracks in psychology, policy analysis, social economics and engineering, and strongly focuses on integration of these tracks. The paper elaborates on one of the main research questions of the project, i.e. on the ability of citizens to cope with floods by means of adequate preparation. The discussion on this issue illustrates the added value of the interdisciplinary approach. The paper concludes with an outlook on the development of an integrative framework, which intertwines all research tracks. © 2009 Taylor & Francis Group