Paper short abstract:

This paper interrogates the resilience frames in the management of urban flood risks in Malawi’s cities. Using Lilongwe and Mzuzu cities as cases, it foregrounds how resilience to floods is framed, what is accentuated or obscured, and how such frames influence resilience practices and their outcomes

Paper long abstract:

Sustainable development goal 11 focuses on achieving sustainable cities and communities. One of the targets of this goal is to significantly reduce the effects of disasters including water related disasters such as floods. To make sense of and achieve this goal, the resilience concept has often been used by different actors including state and non-state actors. This paper interrogates the resilience narrative employed in the management of urban flood risks in Malawi, southern Africa. This paper draws from PhD research conducted between 2019 and 2021 employing key informant interviews, focus group discussions and document review as key data collection methods. Thus, the paper foregrounds how resilience to floods is framed, what is accentuated and what is obscured in the process. Specifically, it assesses how resilience is discursively produced in national and local policy frameworks addressing disaster and climate-related policies in Malawi, using Mzuzu and Lilongwe cities as cases. Further, it assesses how these particular resilience frames affect the resilience practices and their outcomes employed in the two cities. Ultimately, the paper questions the adoption and transfer of the resilience frames and their relevance to cities in Malawi.