Riskbegreppets ogreppbarhet : En studie av riskbegreppets rörliga aspekter och dess påverkan på Karlstad kommuns hantering av översvämningsrisker.

Sammanfattning: The purpose of this essay is to provide a deeper understanding of how the notion of risk and its intangible features affects the spatial planning of Karlstad Municipality with focus on how central actors (Karlstad Municipality and Länsstyrelsen Värmland) are handling the notion of flood-risks. This is interesting to study especially when considering building new living areas on ground that is troubled with floods. What becomes interesting to study is how the view on risk-management differs among actors. The methods used for conducting this research are document analysis and interviews which hopefully will bring a deeper understanding of how the notion of risk is being treated differently depending of which actor is being studied. In this study, a case-study was made on a planning-process of a new residential area located on flood-prone area. The result shows that both actors studied are not willing to take any risks when it comes to prognoses of climate change. On the other hand, for Länsstyrelsen there was a small doubt towards building on these kinds of areas. The difference in the view of risk seems to lie in which understanding we have of what we know. Länsstyrelsen seems to be skeptical to the trust in knowledge and technology that Karlstad Municipality seems to have. That view could be involuntary though, especially because of the lack of residential apartments along with the market ideals of building close to water. The problem is that they are building on attractive but yet risky areas, and to reduce these risks a flood guard has been built. The situation becomes a paradox where they want to have the cake and still eat it. This dilemma is very expensive and at the same the solutions made are not 100 % safe regarding the uncertainty of climate change. This paradox implies that risks are being created which later have to be dealt with. The central actors deal with the situation in the best way through trusting the technology and the prognoses that are provided today.