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In search of ‘lost’ knowledge and outsourced expertise in flood risk management
Author(s) -
Haughton Graham,
Bankoff Greg,
J Coulthard Tom
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
transactions of the institute of british geographers
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.196
H-Index - 107
eISSN - 1475-5661
pISSN - 0020-2754
DOI - 10.1111/tran.12082
Subject(s) - flood myth , flood risk management , suspect , privilege (computing) , work (physics) , risk management , sociology , outsourcing , business , public relations , political science , environmental planning , geography , engineering , law , archaeology , criminology , finance , mechanical engineering
This paper examines the parallel discourses of ‘lost’ local flood expertise and the growing use of commercial consultancies to outsource aspects of flood risk work. We critically examine the various claims and counter‐claims about lost, local and external expertise in flood management, focusing on the aftermath of the 2007 floods in East Yorkshire, England. Drawing on interviews with consultants, drainage engineers and others, we caution against claims that privilege ‘local’ floods knowledge as ‘good’ and expert knowledge as somehow suspect. This paper urges carefulness in interpreting claims about local knowledge, arguing that it is important always to think instead of hybrid knowledge formations. We conclude by arguing that experiments in the co‐production of flood risk knowledge need to be seen as part of a spectrum of ways for producing shared knowledge.