TY - JOUR
T1 - ‘Don’t call us vulnerable!’
T2 - Rethinking flood vulnerability and community-led governance
AU - Amankwaa, Ebenezer F.
AU - Boafo, Yaw Agyeman
AU - Spataru, Catalina
AU - Carvalho, Priscila
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 Urban Affairs Association.
PY - 2024
Y1 - 2024
N2 - Traditional views on flood vulnerability often present a simplistic government-community relationship, portraying communities as passive recipients of aid. This perspective overlooks the dynamic agency of urban residents in shaping their own governance structures. Recent research challenges this binary thinking by revealing how communities actively manage flood risks. However, the intricate interplay between government absence and community-led actions, and their role in everyday governance, remains underexplored. Drawing on scholarship in flood vulnerability and community-led governance, this paper examines the experiences and management strategies of flood-prone residents in Dansoman, Accra, using interviews, focus groups, and “follow-along participant observation.” Three key themes emerged: “anticipate and navigate,” “collaborate and compensate for,” and “rupture and replace.” These themes illustrate how residents acquiesce to, reconfigure, or challenge government roles in flood management, establishing self-governance through community-led initiatives. These efforts often legitimize and strengthen community resilience, sometimes even usurping and replacing state authority. The findings underscore the need to recognize community agency in managing flood risks and compensating for insufficient government support through solidarity and self-help. Policymakers can enhance flood management by incorporating these community-driven insights, fostering more effective, inclusive, and sustainable strategies that reflect the fluid, evolving relationships between government and communities.
AB - Traditional views on flood vulnerability often present a simplistic government-community relationship, portraying communities as passive recipients of aid. This perspective overlooks the dynamic agency of urban residents in shaping their own governance structures. Recent research challenges this binary thinking by revealing how communities actively manage flood risks. However, the intricate interplay between government absence and community-led actions, and their role in everyday governance, remains underexplored. Drawing on scholarship in flood vulnerability and community-led governance, this paper examines the experiences and management strategies of flood-prone residents in Dansoman, Accra, using interviews, focus groups, and “follow-along participant observation.” Three key themes emerged: “anticipate and navigate,” “collaborate and compensate for,” and “rupture and replace.” These themes illustrate how residents acquiesce to, reconfigure, or challenge government roles in flood management, establishing self-governance through community-led initiatives. These efforts often legitimize and strengthen community resilience, sometimes even usurping and replacing state authority. The findings underscore the need to recognize community agency in managing flood risks and compensating for insufficient government support through solidarity and self-help. Policymakers can enhance flood management by incorporating these community-driven insights, fostering more effective, inclusive, and sustainable strategies that reflect the fluid, evolving relationships between government and communities.
KW - community interventions
KW - Flooding
KW - resilience
KW - self-help
KW - vulnerability
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85205340873&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/07352166.2024.2401885
DO - 10.1080/07352166.2024.2401885
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85205340873
SN - 0735-2166
JO - Journal of Urban Affairs
JF - Journal of Urban Affairs
ER -