1 BHS Eleventh National Symposium, Hydrology for a changing world, Dundee 2012. ISBN: 1903741181 © British Hydrological Society Flood histories, lood memories and informal lood knowledge in the development of community resilience to future lood risk Lindsey McEwen 1* , Franz Krause 2 , Joanne Garde Hansen 3 , and Owain Jones 4 1 Department of Geography and Environmental Management, University of the West of England; 2 Countryside and Community Research Institute, University of Gloucestershire; 3 Centre for Media, Memory and Community; 4 University of Gloucestershire, and Countryside and Community Research Institute, University of the West of England *Email: Lindsey.Mcewen@uwe.ac.uk Background There is growing evidence as to the importance of informal/ local/lay/indigenous knowledges in science more generally (Whatmore, 2009) and in lood risk management (McEwen and Jones, in press). This occurs for instance for lood modelling and prediction (see Parkin, 2010 re Morpeth 2008 loods) and lood risk management (e.g. Lane et al., 2012; Whatmore, 2009). In parallel, lood memories and associated informal knowledges and heritage have potential for social learning for public/community resilience to looding. This poses questions as to how such lood memories and informal knowledges impact on communities’ capacities to prepare for, and recover from, loods. This paper outlines initial outcomes of a project researching and promoting community-lead adaptation planning. The project The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) project ‘Sustainable Flood Memories’ aims to increase understanding of how memories of local lood histories provide a platform for developing the character and role of informal knowledges for personal/community resilience. Further detail on initial research results can be found in McEwen et al. (2012). Our research explores: (a) how communities remember and archive lood experiences; (b) how local lood knowledge is materialised, assimilated and protected; (c) the role of loods in building community, community identity, and community knowledge of lood risk; (d) how informal knowledge is acquired in a social learning process; and (e) how informal knowledge can be transmitted, developed, revitalised and returned in settings where it is lost or lacking. The research is critically evaluating the extent to which, and in what ways, lood memories contribute to local lood knowledge, building community resilience in the face of changing lood risk and during actual events. To achieve this, the research is comparing three communities in the lower Severn valley, UK, which have different histories, forms and levels of past lood experience, and different degrees of community development. Sustainable Memories, Watery senses of place and lood heritage The project proposes the concept of ‘sustainable lood memory’ for effective lood risk management. ‘Sustainable lood memory’ is conceived as community focused, archival, integrating individual/personal and collective/community experiences, involving inter- and intra- generational communication and strategies for its future. It thereby fathoms the creative tension between memories of past lood events and their role in changing hydrological and socioeconomic environments. The research explores how the concept of memory can help understand processes of community and informal social learning that might be supported/enhanced in lood risk management, and how this Abstract This research emphasises the importance of informal/local/lay lood knowledges, lood memories and shared lood histories/heritage in developing community resilience to looding. How do these knowledges relate to communities’ capacities to prepare for, and recover from, extreme loods? This question requires urgent response, given recent extreme loods in the Severn catchment (2007), Morpeth (2008), and Cumbria (2009). We present a novel framework for lood research with integrated stakeholder engagement, and outline initial research outcomes from an interdisciplinary UK Economic and Social Research Council-funded research project. The project proposes the concept of ‘sustainable lood memory’ for effective lood risk management. ‘Sustainable lood memory’ is conceived as community focused, archival, integrating individual and collective experiences of local lood histories, involving inter- (vertical) and intra- generational (horizontal) communication, and strategies for its future. It thereby fathoms the creative tension between memories of past events and their role in a changing socioeconomic and hydrological environment. The project aims to increase understanding of how lood memories of these local lood histories provide a platform, creating social learning opportunities that can increase communities’ adaptive capacities and lood resilience. Working closely with a stakeholder competency group, the project explores: how communities remember and archive lood experiences; how local lood knowledge is materialised, assimilated and protected; the role of catastrophic loods (e.g. July 2007, River Severn, UK) in building ‘community’ memory and lood risk knowledge; and whether informal knowledge can be transmitted, developed, revitalised and returned in settings where it is lost or lacking. doi: 10.7558/bhs.2012.ns34