The aim of this presentation is to examine flood risk management in England as a combined environmental, socio-technical and socio-cultural process, using a specific case study of the Don Valley in South Yorkshire.

Flooding is a recurrent threat in England. Moreover, according to various authors, governments in England as in many other countries have increasingly favoured flexible, ‘resilient’, social learning approaches to flood risk management, rather than older ‘hard’ engineering projects.

The preparation of this particular case study covering about ten years of flood protection provides a means of assessing the extent of that change and its implications. Case studies bring in the role of different actors and the power they wield, so going beyond the abstractions of theory and conceptual distinctions.

The Don Valley in South Yorkshire is a good place for a case study, given the impact of a flooding event in 2007 and the way in which local events have become entwined with national and European Union initiatives and with policy shifts associated with resistance and resilience.

About the presenter
Barry Goodchild has an educational background in geography, sociology and urban planning. Over a long career, Barry has secured the publication of five books, including one in French and 39 articles in refereed journals, covering aspects of housing design, housing policy, planning theory and sustainable development. His latest book is entitled Markets, politics and the environment: an introduction to planning theory, Routledge, New York and London, 2017. He is currently a Professor of Housing and Urban Planning at Sheffield Hallam University, with responsibilities for research, teaching and the delivery of MSc Major Projects. He is also a member of the Royal Town Planning Institute.

Sheffield Flood 2007. Image by Tony Lloyd via Flickr/CC BY-NC-ND 2.0