Document Type

Article

Journal/Book Title

Journal of the American Water Resources Association

Publisher

Wiley-Blackwell Publishing, Inc.

Publication Date

8-7-2018

Volume

54

Issue

5

First Page

1

Last Page

28

Abstract

With growing urban populations and climate change, urban flooding is an important global issue, even in dryland regions. Flood risk assessments are usually used to identify vulnerable locations and populations, flooding experience patterns, or levels of concern about flooding, but rarely are all of these approaches combined. Furthermore, the social dynamics of flood concerns, exposure, and experience are underexplored. We combined geographic and survey data on household‐level measures of flood experience, concern, and exposure in Utah's urbanizing Wasatch Front. We asked: (1) Are socially vulnerable groups more likely to be exposed to flood risk? (2) How common are flooding experiences among urban residents, and how are these experiences related to sociodemographic characteristics and exposure? and (3) How concerned are urban residents about flooding, and does concern vary by exposure, flood experience, and sociodemographic characteristics? Although floodplain residents were more likely to be White and have higher incomes, respondents who were of a racial/ethnic minority, were older, had less education, and were living in floodplains were more likely to report flood experiences and concern about flooding. Flood risk management approaches need to address social as well as physical sources of vulnerability to floods and recognize social sources of variation in flood experiences and concern.

Comments

This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Hale, R.L., Flint, C.G., Jackson‐Smith, D., and Endter‐Wada, J.. 2018. “ Social Dimensions of Urban Flood Experience, Exposure, and Concern.” Journal of the American Water Resources Association 54 ( 5): 1137– 1150. https://doi.org/10.1111/1752-1688.12676, which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1111/1752-1688.12676. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Use of Self-Archived Versions.

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