A conceptual framework for understanding community resilience to flooding

Abstract

Abstract Flooding, an already prevalent global hazard, is predicted to worsen in frequency and intensity. Flood Risk Governance has evolved from exclusively combating flooding to now also coexisting with it, aiming to enhance resilience comprehensively and over the long term. A narrative literature review presents diverse conceptualisations of resilience to flooding, highlighting ongoing debates about whether resilience is an outcome or process. This paper contends that resilience can and should encompass both the process and outcome-based components. Critically reviewing existing conceptualisations, this paper proposes a holistic framework for understanding community resilience. The framework comprises three components: the capacity to resist, the capacity to respond and recover, and the capacity to adapt. Six specific and potentially overlapping, capacities are identified as Social, Physical, Human, Economic, Institutional, and Natural. The paper also discusses the importance of qualitative research in providing more nuance when assessing resilience. The paper clarifies the complexity of resilience in the face of evolving flood risks, proposing an integrated framework that spans capacities, ongoing processes, and ultimate outcomes. This framework will provide the foundation for understanding and analysing community resilience to groundwater flooding in Buckinghamshire, UK.