ABSTRACT
Residents in low-income communities in cities of the developing world are gradually developing adaptive capacities against floods. In spite of the increasing risks they are exposed to, residents in flood-affected low-income communities continue to live precariously in hazardous areas. Earlier works pointed to the limitations of flood-affected low-income households and portrayed them as passive and incapable of adequately responding to floods when they occur. Contrary to this “victims’ approach” to flood vulnerability, low-income residents have developed grassroots resilience through decades of experience with flood events. For these residents, flood response is learned, embodied and embedded in everyday life and living. This chapter unpacks the emerging social networking and grassroots resilience to floods in urban low-income communities in developing countries. It draws on empirical evidences of two cities in Ghana – Accra and Kumasi – and establishes a framework for understanding community flood resilience in the Global South.
