This study focuses on the Skalička Waterwork (SWW), a largely debated and media-covered
water-related/flood-protection project in the Czech Republic. Relying primarily on
stakeholder interviews, we traced back and reconstructed the project’s development,
including its key tipping points reflecting the changing societal preferences for
particular measures, yet also the involvement of individual actors/stakeholders, and
their differing views. The case eventually crystallized into the “dam versus polder”
dispute; concerned by the repercussions for the local landscape, a joint initiative
of NGOs, local activists, and politicians not only opposed the dam variant proposed
by the state river basin administration but also succeeded in pushing through the
alternative scheme of side dry polder. While in many ways specific (e.g. not entailing
local resistance), the case exemplifies recent shifts (and respective struggles) within
flood risk management, including the increasing importance attributed to complex,
catchment-wide perspectives, joint local and scientific knowledge, participatory decision-making
processes, or implementation of nature-based and hybrid solutions.
