Scientist–stakeholder workshops: A collaborative approach for integrating science and decision-making in Austrian flood-prone municipalities

Both the scientific and decision-making aspects of the nascent paradigm of risk-based flood management are highly complex. While scientists must account for potential future dynamics in flood risk resulting from climate change or settlement growth, decision-makers are urged to consider a host of flood management options and thus face a significantly enlarged decision scope. In light of the complexities that arise from the shift in flood policy, there is a growing need to better integrate science and decision-making and develop an interface to combine different knowledge domains. This paper discusses scientist–stakeholder workshops (SSW) as a collaborative approach within a flood-related Integrated Assessment (IA) to connect the assessment of (flood) risks more closely to the process of policy implementation. We present findings from two SSW conducted as part of the project RiskAdapt in two Austrian flood-prone municipalities with the aim of (i) reflecting the determinants of vulnerability, (ii) identifying local context conditions, (iii) developing adaptive measures for extreme scenarios and thereby (iv) facilitating anticipatory adaptation to flood risk dynamics. We illustrate the potential and constraints of SSW as a participatory method in flood risk management and discuss the possibilities of institutionalizing SSW in the context of the EU Floods Directive implementation in Austria.