Flood, Vulnerability and Urban Resilience: A real-time study of local recovery following the floods of June 2007 in Hull, 2007- 2009 (Hull Floods Project)

This is a qualitative data collection. The research used diaries,
semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions of householders,
floodworkers and other affected stakeholders and followed the recovery
experiences of people across Hull after the floods of June 2007 which
affected over 8,600 households across the city. The project undertook a
real-time longitudinal study to document and understand the everyday
experiences of individuals following the floods of June 2007 in
interaction with networks of actors and organisations, strategies of
institutional support and investment in the built environment and
infrastructure. The research aimed (i) to identify and document key
dimensions of the longer term experience of flood impact and flood
recovery, including health, economic and social aspects, (ii) to examine
how resilience and vulnerability were manifest in the interaction between
everyday strategies of adaptation during the flood recovery process, and
modes of institutional support and the management of infrastructure and
the built environment, (iii) to explore to what extent the recovery
process entailed the development of new forms of resilience and to
identify the implications for developing local level resilience for flood
recovery in the future, and (iv) to develop an archive that will be
accessible for future research into other aspects of flood recovery. The
findings showed flood recovery to be a long and difficult process with no
clear beginning or end. Far from being an incremental, linear process,
respondents’ recovery is punctuated by ‘highs’ and ‘lows’ which are
closely tied to other pressures and life events. Recovery is not complete
when people move ‘back home’, as aspects of daily life are shown to have
fundamentally changed – both for better and for worse. Many of the
difficulties experienced by residents result from the existence of a
‘recovery gap’. This emerges as the legally-defined contingency
arrangements provided to the community by its local authority diminish and
the less well-defined services provided by the non-statutory/private
sector e.g. insurance, builders start. The nature of this gap means that
residents receive little support during this time and, as a result, they
must attempt to coordinate the actions of the different organizations
involved. Such ‘project management’ is time-consuming, exhausting and
stressful as it requires residents to acquire new skills, challenge
‘expert’ judgements and engage in new kinds of physical, mental and
emotional work. By suggesting ways in which residents can be better
supported, the research is of direct practical relevance for organizations
involved in recovery and the building of resilience.