Effective communication as a necessary part of rainwater management: Exploring the practice of Czech municipalities

Abstract

Municipality representatives in Czech cities are increasingly aware of the need to implement measures to adapt cities to climate change. Rainwater management is one pillar in national and local strategies; however, the measures are still not implemented in sufficient quantity and quality. Low enforceability is the result of low public awareness of measures and insufficient communication on the part of both state and municipalities. Besides the low capacity of local authorities to communicate these topics, the cities face little response and lack of interest from residents. In many cases, this is caused by inappropriate choice of communication and participation tools and methods. Based on examples of good practice identified by semi-structured interviews from six Czech cities, however, it is possible to achieve effective communication, for instance by means of annual local participatory meetings with residents, involving independent experts or implementation of online tools to easily share information and to discuss and propose measures and options.