The Role of Stakeholders’ Risk Perception in Water Management Policies. A Case-Study Comparison in Southern Italy

Across Italy, water-related risks have affected communities, environmental systems, urban areas, and economic activities, due to the hydro-geomorphological characteristics of the country. Around 16.6% of the Italian territory is classified as being vulnerable to such risks, and the approximately 8,300 km length of the Italian coastline further increases the complexity of this system. Evidence demonstrates that it is not easy to determine the effectiveness of a risk-management policy to reduce water-related risks. The unsuccessful results of such policies, based on the traditional paradigm of operation research, led practitioners and policy-makers to consider stakeholders’ risk perception, such as socioeconomic dynamics, interaction, previous experience, values, and cultural factors, facilitating bottom-up approaches. The literature highlights that the effectiveness of risks related to water management policies heavily depends on human behaviors, decisions, actions, and interactions that depend on the perspectives and frames of stakeholders involved. The perceived risk influences stakeholders’ decisions and actions. Therefore, differences in risk perception could have a twofold implication. On the one hand, they could lead to conflicting situations. On the other hand, they can offer opportunities for the development of innovative solutions hampering the effectiveness of the risk-management policies. In order to understand the role of stakeholders’ risk perception about natural hazards in urban contexts, a multistep methodology has been applied to two case studies in the Apulia region (Southern Italy). Specifically, analyses of flood risk in the city of Brindisi and the coastal erosion in the town of Margherita di Savoia have been conducted. This work is subdivided into two steps. The first part gives an overview on the traditional risk-management tools and the factors influencing stakeholders’ risk perception. The second part tries to elicit stakeholders’ risk perception through problem structuring methods. Finally, a comparison is carried out between the two case studies. It is aimed at highlighting the common points and the differences regarding the role of stakeholders’ risk perceptions about water-related risks in management policies.