Exploring the effect of perceptions of social responsibility on community resilience to flooding

Climate change has increased the threat of flooding to communities and presented the need for greater understanding of barriers and drivers to community resilience. This presents a significant research challenge due to complex interdependencies between the built environment, flooding, and the decisions of individuals within the community. The decisions of individuals that make up key community groups are of vital importance to this area because their decisions affect their perceptions, behaviour and cumulative resilience at community level. The decision making of the community groups could be positive, resulting in resilience-enhancing actions, or negative, resulting in resilience-reducing perceptions and behaviour. Therefore, understanding the factors that influence the decision making process will help to overcome barriers and promote drivers for community resilience. This chapter explores one of the main areas that has been highlighted as having the potential to affect decision making at community level, the perceptions of social responsibility. Examples from recent flooding events suggest the important role of social responsibility in influencing community resilience. Main considerations for the research are described, including the need for establishing a common framework for measuring and monitoring social responsibility within the community. Such a framework would provide a platform for integration and joined-up thinking between key community groups.