Collaborative spatial planning in the face of flood risk in delta cities: A policy framing perspective

Meng Meng*, Marcin Dąbrowski, Yuting Tai, Dominic Stead, Faith Chan

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleScientificpeer-review

23 Citations (Scopus)
226 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Integration of flood risk in spatial planning is increasingly seen as a way to enhance cities’ resilience to the growing flood hazards, albeit its operationalisation remains challenging. This study aims to explain the reasons for this difficulty through the case study of Guangzhou, a Chinese delta city that is highly vulnerable to coastal, fluvial and pluvial flooding, particularly in the context of a changing climate and rapid expansion of the urban fabric. It does so by investigating the recognition of flood risk in spatial planning and vice-versa, of spatial issues in the flood risk management field, using framing analysis. The paper reveals that the integration of flood risk concerns in spatial planning in Guangzhou remains an emerging process, gradually shifting from informal to formal activities grounded in legislation. This happens through percolation of framing discourse from the flood risk management policy to spatial planning, leading to changes in problem setting, action scripts and the prescribed governance arrangements in the planning discourse. The vagueness of governance arrangements, however, undermines the integration of flood risk management in spatial planning.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)95-104
Number of pages10
JournalEnvironmental Science and Policy
Volume96
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2019

Keywords

  • Boundary spanning
  • Climate change
  • Delta cities
  • Flood risk
  • Framing analysis
  • Spatial planning

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