<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<p>Flood maps are a crucial component of integrated flood risk management. While their key role is commonly acknowledged by experts and scholars, however, literature and findings on the practical utilization of flood maps (including the user’ experiences) within the processes of governance are scarce. Our study aims to contribute to closing this gap; by focusing on the Czech local government bodies, data collected through a questionnaire survey allowed us to examine (a) how, or whether at all, the officials employ flood maps in their agendas; (b) how do they experience and assess working with the maps; and (c) which data would they supplement the extant flood maps by. Our findings show that the praxis of local flood-related governance in the Czech Republic still largely neglects the up-to-date approaches and practices of flood risk management. The officials addressed mostly continue to rely on the earliest type of floodplain maps and purely technical aspects of floods, while largely omitting the newer flood danger and risk maps; thus, they are also missing the opportunities of applying multi-criteria assessment of the flood risk and more effective communication with the public. The paper concludes with a set of suggestions for relevant praxis and future research.</p>
</abstract>

Flood maps are a crucial component of integrated flood risk management. While their key role is commonly acknowledged by experts and scholars, however, literature and findings on the practical utilization of flood maps (including the user’ experiences) within the processes of governance are scarce. Our study aims to contribute to closing this gap; by focusing on the Czech local government bodies, data collected through a questionnaire survey allowed us to examine (a) how, or whether at all, the officials employ flood maps in their agendas; (b) how do they experience and assess working with the maps; and (c) which data would they supplement the extant flood maps by. Our findings show that the praxis of local flood-related governance in the Czech Republic still largely neglects the up-to-date approaches and practices of flood risk management. The officials addressed mostly continue to rely on the earliest type of floodplain maps and purely technical aspects of floods, while largely omitting the newer flood danger and risk maps; thus, they are also missing the opportunities of applying multi-criteria assessment of the flood risk and more effective communication with the public. The paper concludes with a set of suggestions for relevant praxis and future research.

An opportunity missed is an opportunity lost. Flood maps and their (non-)utilization by local government bodies in the Czech Republic

Department of Geography, Faculty of Science

Institute of Geonics of the Czech Academy of Sciences

Moravian Geographical Reports

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Flood maps are a crucial component of integrated flood risk management. While their key role is commonly acknowledged by experts and scholars, however,...

An opportunity missed is an opportunity lost. Flood maps and their (non-)utilization by local government bodies in the Czech Republic

Published Online: Jul 05, 2024

Page range: 123 - 136

Received: Apr 14, 2023

Accepted: Mar 13, 2024

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/mgr-2024-0011

Keywords
Flood maps, flood risk management, local government bodies, questionnaire survey, Czech Republic

© 2024 Kamila Dolák Klemešová et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

An opportunity missed is an opportunity lost. Flood maps and their (non-)utilization by local government bodies in the Czech Republic

Published Online: Jul 05, 2024

Page range: 123 - 136

Received: Apr 14, 2023

Accepted: Mar 13, 2024

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/mgr-2024-0011

KeywordsFlood maps, flood risk management, local government bodies, questionnaire survey, Czech Republic

© 2024 Kamila Dolák Klemešová et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Keywords
Flood maps, flood risk management, local government bodies, questionnaire survey, Czech Republic