Understanding risk, choice and amenity in an urban area at risk of flooding

This paper reports on a qualitative interview study of residents' perceptions of the probability and impact of flooding in a socially disadvantaged urban area identified and publicised as at risk of inundation. The people in this study engage with expert definitions of flood risk, but expert knowledge is not their most important reference point. While residents understand that the area is at risk of flooding, two key points emerge in their discussions of this risk. First, for most participants knowledge of this risk does not translate into personal worry; second, risk knowledge is balanced against their valuing of amenities in the area. While risk is of sociological and policy interest, for people living within, rather than analysing, areas prone to natural disasters risk is not the defining element of life; rather, it is contextualised within people's housing history, choices (or lack thereof) and experiences of an area.