Flood risk perception and communication within risk management in different cultural contexts [Elektronische Ressource] : a comparative case study between Wuhan, China and Cologne, Germany / vorglegt von Xiaomeng Shen

Xiaomeng Shen

Sujets

• Social work
• Management

Informations

• Publié par: rheinische_friedrich-wilhelms-universitat_bonn
• Publié le: 01 janvier 2009
• Nombre de lectures: 34
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 3 Mo

Extrait

FLOOD RISK PERCEPTION AND COMMUNICATION
WITHIN RISK MANAGEMENT
IN DIFFERENT CULTURAL CONTEXTS

A COMPARATIVE CASE STUDY
BETWEEN WUHAN, CHINA AND COLOGNE, GERMANY






Inaugural-Dissertation
zur
Erlangung der Doktorwürde
der
Philosophischen Fakultät
der
Rheinischen Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität
zu Bonn





vorgelegt von


Xiaomeng Shen

aus

Beijing, VR China







Bonn, 2009









Gedruckt mit der Genehmigung der Philosophischen Fakultät
der Rheinischen Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn




















Zusammensetzung der Prüfungskommissio: n
Prof. Dr. Helmuth Toepfer
Prof. Dr. Jürgen Pohl
Prof. Dr. Libor Jansky
Prof. Dr. Eckart Ehlers













Tag der mündlichen Prüfung: 19. 06. 2009
2
LWLHGUGLWXK%*9XJWJDXFHKHWHLUQ9HLXL*UUHUWHDWUDFK]WU*XH]QULLUWHVW0DFKWWOXH*GQHHZWH%LQWUHXUUHHVSUH?HQIWXVQRJVGEHHWUVHRFWFKQDedicated to:
my parents who have always encouraged me to pursue an academic life and helped
me to make it possible;
my husband and son, who allowed me to “flood” our house and their brain cells for four
years and left me enough “retention area” to “flow”.


3
ACKNOWLEDGMENT



( 768-824)

“Without the horse master Bole there would be no horses of one
thousand miles. A horse which can run one thousand miles in one
stroke is not at all rare. However, a master like Bole, who can tell
which horse has such ability, is rare. As a consequence, many horses
of excellent capacity only have an ordinary life being humiliated by
ordinary man without earning a name of being a horse of one thou-
sand miles” – (Han Yu, 768-824 AD)

I thank Professor Bogardi for being a wise “master of horses” who saw my potential
(which is still not even known to myself; I feel more like the donkey of Don Quixote) and
has been “whipping”/supporting me through my entire PhD rearing process. No other
words can better describe his contribution to my personal academic development than
the story of the horse master Bole.

It is Professor Jürgen Pohl who gives the word “Doktorvater” (doctor father - the Ger-
man expression for PhD supervisor), a true meaning. Without his fatherly encourage-
ment and sometimes even psychological support, on top of all his inspiring academic
guidance, I might still be fumbling in the total darkness of confusion.

Dr. Katharina Marre as my tutor within the UNITED NATIONS UNIVERSITY Institute
for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS) has accompanied me throughout my
PhD journey and always been there for me whenever I needed a guiding and helping
hand. I thank her for her constant intellectual inspiration, important comments and
invaluable feedback especially through the writing-up phase.

I also wish to thank Professor Libor Jansky for helping me to find and define additional
dimensions of my work and for his useful counsel.

In addition, my thanks go to my friends Basak Baglayan Ceyhan and Patrick Schröder
who went through the “construction phase” of my PhD work, breathing in all the dust
and hearing all the noise of a construction site as well as helping me to polish the
facade of my work by proof reading. The final proof-reading was jointly accomplished
by my friends Claudia Maurer, Susanne Krings and Olivia Dun. I owe them many
thanks - and dinners (If you find any mistakes in my work, do not hesitate to contact
them).

I thank the UNITED NATIONS UNIVERSITY Institute for Environment and Human
Security for funding my PhD research as well as providing me with an excellent work-
ing environment with pleasant and helpful colleagues.

Last but not least, I owe many thanks to the following institutions in China and Ger-
many for assisting me to organise my research and providing me with valuable infor-
mation essential for my field work:

4
A360<"$1.*9+&2"%4?(#=$3.8,'"%+#/!-B%@"),>*%)7(;+:*%)7("5Institutions in China:
The Agency for Foreign Affairs in the city of Wuhan
The Division for Special Tasks of the Municipal Government of Wuhan
The Bureau for Water Resources, Wuhan
The Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters, Wuhan including
Division for Dike Construction and Maintenance
Division for Technical Planning
Division for Water Resource and Quality
Division for Flood Protection
Division for Drainage
The Division for Flood Protection within the Flood Control and Drought Relief
Headquarters of Huangpi District, Wuhan
The Bureau for Water Resources of Huangpi District, Wuhan
The Division for Flood Protection within the Flood Control and Drought Relief
Headquarters of Caidian District, Wuhan
The Bureau for Urban Planning, Wuhan
The Environmental Agency, Wuhan including
The Division for Foreign Affairs
The Division for Technology
The Division for Environmental Monitoring
The Agency for Agriculture, Wuhan
The Bureau for Meteorology, Wuhan
1 The Changjiang Water Resources Commission including
The Division for International Exchange
Division for Flood Water Allocation
Division for Technical Planning
Division for Dike Construction and Maintenance
Division for Flood Protection
Bureau for Construction
Department of Water Hazard Research, China Institute of Water Resources and
Hydropower Research
National Disaster Reduction Centre
Ministry of Civil Affairs
Ministry of Water Resources
World Wildlife Fund, Wuhan Office
Infantry Base of People’s Liberation Army, Wuhan

Institutions in Germany:
Flood Protection Centre, City of Cologne
Drainage Enterprise Cologne
Citizens’ Group Westhoven
Fire Brigade, City of Cologne
Regional Farmers’ Union Köln-Erftkreis
Conservationists’ Union Cologne
Federal Bureau for Nature Conservation
The Federal Army Force
Regional Agency for Spatial Planning, Cologne

1
Changjiang is another standard usage for Yangtze River in China. Both of the usages are applied
interchangeably in different contexts in Chinese scientific literature and as official names.
5
xxxx?xxxxxxx?x?xx?????xxxx??x?x?xxxxxx??xCONTENTS
A Introduction....................................................................................................... 10
1. Water, ah water! _______________________________________________ 10
2. Flood mitigation_______________________________________________ 12
3. The significance of cultural understanding ________________________ 17
4. Objectives of the study and research questions ____________________ 18
5. Structure of the thesis _________________________________________ 19
B Notion of risk and problem dimensions of flood management ..................... 21
1. Risk as a manifold concept _____________________________________ 21
2. Challenge in flood management _________________________________ 27
C Sites of field work............................................................................................. 32
1. Location, population and economy_______________________________ 32
1.1. Wuhan, China.........................................................................................................32
1.2. Cologne, Germany .................................................................................................35
2. Historical flood events _________________________________________ 38
2.1. Wuhan, China.........................................................................................................38
2.2. Cologne, Germany .................................................................................................39
3. Engineered measures __________________________________________ 40
3.1. Wuhan, China.........................................................................................................40
3.2. Cologne, Germany .................................................................................................43
D Methodological approach ................................................................................ 44
1. Research design ______________________________________________ 44
1.1. Qualitative social research method........................................................................44
1.2. Research subjects..................................................................................................45
1.3. Range of methods applied and the field work........................................................45
2. Field work experiences_________________________________________ 47
2.1. In Germany.............................................................................................................47
2.2. In China .............................