Feldmann, M. (2021) The role of policy entrepreneurs in integrated flood risk management approaches, ‘Building resilience’ in the North Sea Region. Master thesis.
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Abstract
Long-term sea level rise and other climate change related events like storm surges and intense precipitation pose and amplify great future flood risks. In the field of flood risk management, there is a noticeable consensus that relying on traditional technical flood control to face these threats is insufficient - leading to a paradigm shift in water management towards more comprehensive flood risk management approaches in the European Union. In this context, the concept of ‘resilience’ gained considerable attention; a ‘fuzzy’ concept due to its broad spectrum of application despite its lack of a proper definition. This research (i) investigates the actions of professionals in water management whose task is to ‘do’ resilience and (ii) aims at contributing to the understanding of what practices they can successfully adopt to realize more integrated approaches in flood risk management. This study refers to such experts as ‘policy entrepreneurs’, who in this case are the pilot managers and other professionals working in the discipline within the EU-Interreg North Sea Region FRAMES (Flood Resilient Areas by Multi-layEr Safety) project. The FRAMES project is carried out at 15 pilot sites in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, and Denmark. The project´s intention is to enhance flood resilience in these areas by developing holistic strategies. By analyzing interviews and surveys from these pilot sites, the aim of this thesis is to create generic findings about the best practices that pilot managers and other experts in the field of flood risk management can adopt to foster flood resilience approaches in their pilot areas. Their tasks are challenging: they work and intervene in diverse relevant fields and disciplines, and they mainly act as mediators while addressing complex challenges, as these often involve a multitude of stakeholders. Thereby, communication-related practices hold the greatest priority when dealing with management deficits within projects. To approach such challenges holistically, paying attention to normative aspects, raising awareness, planning emergency responses and including communities, citizens and other important individuals are emphasized as their crucial tasks. This thesis develops ten statements about practices that make the policy entrepreneurs´ work in integrated flood risk management approaches successful.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Master) |
|---|---|
| Degree programme: | Environmental & Infrastructure Planning |
| Supervisor: | Kempenaar, J. and Brink, M.A. van den |
| Date Deposited: | 19 Jan 2021 11:02 |
| Last Modified: | 19 Jan 2021 11:02 |
| URI: | https://frw.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/3405 |
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