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Paper Short Abstract:

This presentation explores the management of the Odra River in times of more frequent floods caused by climate change. We argue that human relationships with the environment are based on separation from nature, which leads to attempts to control the river, rather than learning how to coexist with it in changing circumstances. The change in perception and management of the river can only be achieved by acknowledging the fact that more-than-humans co-create the river and the wider environment. This presentation is based on research conducted in Wroclaw, Poland.

Paper Abstract:

In recent years we have seen an increase in the frequency of climate disasters. We are convinced that one of the main causes of this change is a long tradition of distancing ourselves from the environment and believing that we, as humans, are independent from it. In our research in Wroclaw, Poland, we are interested in how city dwellers think about and behave towards the Odra River, taking into account the flood of 1997 and the flood threat of 2024. We look at how the flood protection systems and flood risk management of the Odra River work, and whether they have changed over the years due to the aforementioned flood threats and experiences.

Following Veronica Strang (2021: 407) we argue that imposing more material control over water flows does not lead to sustainable solutions. Rather, we believe that it is essential to consider human interactions with more than human life. This approach, we believe, could better prepare us for the current and future consequences of climate change. Therefore, we aim to present the river as shimmering - or pulsating - with relations (Rose 2017) and in terms of more-than-human sociality (Tsing 2013). In our presentation, we will also discuss the different ways in which our interlocutors, including local politicians and representatives of non-governmental institutions, perceive and talk about the river.