Cultural Influences on Flood Control Policies in Central Europe: A Literature Review

Flood risk management research increasingly recognises that technical and institutional solutions alone are insufficient to reduce flood impacts under accelerating climate change. While comparative studies have examined governance structures and policy instruments, considerably less attention has been paid to how regional cultures shape citizen participation and, in turn, influence policy effectiveness. This literature review addresses this gap by examining how cultural mechanisms mediate flood governance outcomes in Central Europe and China, with particular attention to the Rhine and Yellow River Basins.Drawing on interdisciplinary literature spanning flood governance, cultural geography, disaster studies, and public participation, the review demonstrates that flood policies operate through culturally embedded interpretations of risk, responsibility, and authority. In Central Europe, traditions of local self-organisation and participatory governance support bottom-up engagement in flood preparedness and risk-sharing. In contrast, long-standing state-centred flood cultures in China have fostered strong reliance on structural protection and administrative control, while limiting autonomous civic participation.By reframing culture as an active policy mechanism rather than a passive contextual factor, this review highlights why flood management strategies with similar technical rationales generate divergent participation patterns and resilience outcomes across regions. The findings suggest that culturally insensitive policy designs risk underperforming, even when engineering capacity is high. The article concludes by outlining implications for flood governance, arguing that integrating cultural mechanisms into policy formulation is essential for enhancing public engagement, legitimacy, and long-term flood resilience.