Professionalization of community engagement in flood risk management: Insights from four European countries

The study presented in this paper examines how professionalization manifests itself in the functioning of the organized community groups involved in flood risk management in Italy, Germany, England, and the Netherlands, and discusses the ambivalent implications that professionalization has for community engagement in flood risk management. Community engagement in flood risk management is a paramount instrument in attaining community preparedness and resilience to flood hazards. In a field traditionally dominated by expert top-down decision-making, technical expertise, and a limited number of stakeholders, community engagement is paired with professionalization, which is often considered a requirement for an effective and efficient service delivery.

Regardless of the differences in institutional contexts and regimes of flood risk management in the four countries under study, the organized community groups exhibited four invariant facets of professionalization. In particular, the authors observed professionalization manifesting itself in the structure of the community groups, in the knowledge and intensive learning, in the advancement of the groups' activities and in the groups positionality in the professional field of flood risk management. Taking the ambivalent implications of professionalization into account during the development of community engagement strategies is strongly advised. This would help ensure that communities have enough room and a variety of ways to meaningfully contribute to risk management.