Climate change is increasing flood risk across the UK. As floods become more frequent and intense, communities are increasingly encouraged to become resilient and “live with water”. Yet in some flood-prone areas, residents are rejecting these calls, concerned that resilience is less about helping communities and more about transferring responsibility from institutions to citizens.

Resilience is often considered to be a positive idea. It suggests that people can adapt to uncertainty, to prepare for disruption, and recover quickly when floods strike. But my research suggests many communities are deeply uncomfortable with this messaging. Some reject it altogether.

My research with three flood action groups in north-west England drew on 17 semi-structured interviews and extensive participant observation over a five-year period.

One resident told me rather bluntly: “Resilience offers hope. But for me it’s false hope. A way of telling people, you’ll flood. What are you going to do about it?”

Debates about resilience reveal more fundamental concerns: who should bear responsibility for managing the consequences of climate change? And how........

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