Spatial relationships matter: How a spatial lens can illuminate barriers and motivators of natural flood management

Flooding is a significant global risk that is being exacerbated by land use change and climate change. Natural Flood Management (NFM) is a group of practices that can help mitigate flood risk by slowing the flow, decreasing runoff rates, and storing water, and it can be effective at a variety of scales. NFM implementation is inherently spatial, as it requires upscaling as well as overcoming upstream-downstream spatial disconnections. However, existing literature on the barriers and motivators of NFM discusses the concept of space inconsistently. We review articles on the barriers and motivators of NFM implementation (n = 30) and find that the most common barriers are related to policies, knowledge, and funding; and the most common motivators are related to co-benefits, flood mitigation, and supportive policies. We use a spatial framework to analyse the barriers and motivators of NFM, finding that measuring NFM’s effectiveness, encouraging upstream-downstream cooperation, and considering visual impact and sense of place are essential for NFM upscaling. More consistency is needed in spatial thinking to move from discussions of the barriers of NFM to successful catchment-scale implementation. A holistic spatial framework for NFM implementation, with links to existing implementation frameworks, is proposed to facilitate NFM upscaling. This spatial framework can help NFM project implementers to think through the barriers and motivators of NFM. • Key barriers to NFM are related to policies, funding, knowledge, and perceptions. • Key motivators for NFM are related to flood mitigation, co-benefits, policies, climate change, collaboration, and funding. • More clarity is needed on spatial thinking related to the barriers and motivators of NFM. • To upscale NFM, decision-makers should evaluate empirical, block, image, and place considerations.