Rural realities:everyday places and practices of young people in rural Estonia

De dagelijkse, lokale omgeving speelt een belangrijke rol in het leven en welzijn van jongeren op het platteland van Estland. Dat blijkt uit het promotieonderzoek van Elen Trell, die met haar proefschrift inzicht biedt in de alledaagse ‘rurale realiteit’ in Estland. Zij concludeert dat de plekken waar Estse plattelandsjongeren zich thuis voelen, de ervaringen en vaardigheden die ze daar opdoen en hun informele sociale contacten, een basis kunnen bieden voor het leggen van contacten met de oudere generatie, het vormen van vriendschappen met leeftijdsgenoten en de omgang met structurele onzekerheden. Toegang tot zeer specifieke plekken waar jongeren zich geborgen weten, en de praktijken die daar worden gebezigd, kan hen een breder gevoel van verbondenheid met hun woonplaats geven. Deze verbondenheid is echter ambigu: ondanks het gevoel van thuishoren, zien de jongeren in dit onderzoek voor zichzelf geen toekomst weggelegd in hun woonplaats

Emerging citizen contributions, roles and interactions with public authorities in Dutch pluvial flood risk management

This paper focuses on the emerging role of citizens and their increasing contributions to local pluvial flood risk management (FRM) in the Netherlands. A qualitative research approach is followed with semi-structured interviews, and analysis of policy documents and media reports. A typology of physical resources and actions, knowledge, and advocacy activities shows evidence of locally-focused citizen contributions to pluvial FRM in the Dutch city of Arnhem. The paper reveals that this emerging citizen role in FRM is being shaped by traditional authority-led interactions, creative and dialogical approaches to citizen engagement, as well as citizen-initiated contributions that then interact with authorities

Socio-spatial inequalities in flood resilience: Rainfall flooding in the city of Arnhem

This paper critically analyses socio-spatial inequalities associated with the shift towards flood resilience in flood risk management (FRM) and pays particular attention to the notion of ‘living with floods’ and its implications for citizens. Living with floods and the narrative of ‘surviving and thriving’ are emphasised within flood resilience literature, but such discussions often ignore the varying socio-spatial vulnerabilities and capacities of citizens. This paper undertakes an exploration of potential socio-spatial inequalities for flood resilience in the Dutch city of Arnhem, which has recently experienced rainfall flooding and is actively encouraging citizen action in FRM. The paper follows a mixed-methods approach that combines secondary data sources, semi-structured interviews, and a document analysis. Three forms of socio-spatial inequalities in flood resilience were identified in Arnhem: existing inequalities exacerbated by the shift, ‘hidden’ inequalities in vulnerability that are now relevant due to rainfall flood risk, and new inequalities in capacity to fulfil the responsibilities arising from the shift to ‘living with floods’. The paper contributes to wider discussions on the shift towards flood resilience in FRM and helps city planners to consider the interactions between vulnerability and capacity in their different neighbourhoods when allocating public resources

Civil society contributions to local level flood resilience

There is an increasing emphasis on the local level as well as growing expectations regarding civil society actors in flood risk management in the UK. However, not enough is known about the potential contributions of civil society to flood resilience at the local level. This paper addresses this knowledge gap by conceptualising flood resilience at the local level across three phases inherent to flood disasters: pre-flood, during the flood, and post-flood. These phases act as the foundation for this paper’s exploration of the contributions of civil society to local level flood resilience. Data was collected before, during and after the floods through interviews (in 2015 and 2017) and from secondary data sources. The paper identified the importance of time and place when analysing civil society contributions to local level flood resilience. These contributions were dynamic over time with a strong initial response that diminished over time due to apathy, ‘active forgetting’ and lack of further exposure. Exposure and a sense of community strongly influenced civil society contributions to flood resilience in the Upper Calder Valley. Issues of representation and varying place-based capacities were also identified as relevant for flood resilience-based policies. These results have larger implications in our understanding of the contributions of civil society actors to flood resilience and suggest that whilst they can deliver better local context-specific approaches, there needs to be caution over the long-term sustainability and longevity of their contributions