Urban flooding in Kenya from a psychosocial perspective

Abstract

There are legislative and engineering interventions coupled with increased community participation to mitigate urban flooding. However, there is an observed increase in flood events and their impact in these environments globally; and participation by individual home and property owners in community-driven initiatives to mitigate flooding in urban and peri-urban areas is reportedly low. The major objective of this study was to provide an understanding of urban flooding in Kenya from a psycho-social perspective. The specific objectives were: to establish a basis for a study associating the onset of flooding with environmental attitude and behaviour; to set ground for an investigation relating the effect of flooding on households to environmental attitude and behaviour; provide a background for analysis to correlate the level of humanitarian support during flooding with environmental attitude and behaviour; provide a basis for evaluation of possible attitude and behavioural change approaches to enhance urban flood disaster interventions; and to develop a conceptual framework the study of urban flooding in Kenya from an environmental attitude and behavioural perspective. This was a desk-top survey that involved a review of the literature covering urban flooding onset triggers, effects, and interventions; human attitudes and behaviour; environmental abuse, degradation, and conservation; as well as urban populations’ livelihood practices. The study concludes that there exist gaps that provide an opportunity for investigation of urban flooding in Kenya from a psycho-social perspective.