A review of community flood risk management studies in the United States

Abstract

Given the substantial and diverse body of research on community flood risk management in the United States, there is a need to establish the current state of knowledge, synthesize the methodological dimensions of community flood risk management studies, and identify directions for future research on community flood risk management. The present study addresses these needs by conducting a comprehensive and systematic review of community flood risk management empirical studies in the United States. We searched three academic databases and identified 60 studies that met our selection criteria (e.g., study must be focused on flood risk management at the community level and conducted in the United States). Findings indicate that the number of studies on community flood risk management is increasing, most studies employ flood mitigation and flood impact as their dependent variables, the preferred analytical method is regression, and this literature is dominated by social scientists, among other findings. We discuss six themes that emerge, present four recommendations based on the gaps identified, and outline a robust research agenda for enhancing communities' resilience to future flood disasters.