Disrupting Flood Risk Management Narratives: Youth-Centred Research into Education, Action and Resilience in Flood Affected Places

Across the UK, as the effects of anthropogenic climate change become more apparent, flood risk is increasing, with 1 in 6 properties now considered vulnerable, up from 1 in 8 (EA, 2009; EA, 2023). Environmental problems, like flood risk, have a disproportionate impact upon marginalised groups, including children and young people (CYP). This project is therefore an environmental justice project (Taylor, 2011) that explores the marginalisation of children and young people (CYP), aged 16-24, within environmental management.

It uses the key concept of place (Cresswell, 2015) to explore how young people make sense of flooding and flood risk and how place, conceptually, can empower young people to assert their claim to environmental knowledge and contribute to Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management (FCERM) debates.

The Pitt Review (2007) is seen as a landmark text within FCERM: notably absent are CYP, both in the recommendations and the subsequent DEFRA (2012) response. Thus, there is no statutory requirement for the inclusion of CYP in conversations surrounding FCERM, so we can say they are, therefore, systematically excluded. Consequently, CYP are often viewed as incompetent decision-makers and are not credited for their practical or emotional understanding of flooding and flood risk.

When undertaken properly, natural hazard education for CYP improves the response of the entire community to a hazard event (Yildiz et al., 2023), so the exclusion of CYP within FCERM means communities overlook their emotional and practical knowledge (Le Dé et al., 2021). This project focuses on the apparent marginalisation of CYP within current FCERM approach as a form of environmental injustice.

Research Question:

How does the concept of place manifest and influence children and young people's understanding of flooding and flood risk? Sub-questions:

How does formal education influence the impartment of knowledge surrounding flooding and flood risk for CYP and its effect on the construction of place? What is the potential role of community-led education and activism in FCERM for CYP's understanding?

To what extent do CYP view themselves within a community structure in relation to FCERM and how can this be used to empower young voices? Contribution to Academic and Empirical Knowledge:

The marginalisation of CYP is not limited to industry, but also academic literature. There is a well-established gap for "youth-centred and participatory studies" (Bowman, 2019) that can "respond to adultism in practices" in climate change research (Neas et al., 2022). The research will provide a youth-centred, participatory research framework that centres CYP at its heart within FCERM, using the concept of place as a theoretical anchor. This project lays the foundations for this topic to be explored in different global contexts.

Thus, this study looks to explore this unique space that CYP can occupy within FCERM and how the role of education both formal and community-led needs to adapt to meet the ever-changing UK environmental context. Empirically, CYP themselves are involved in debates which will impact their futures, making them better informed and more capable of dealing with environmental problems