Enhancing community flood adaptation by leveraging interdependencies between resilience capitals: A global empirical analysis

Community flood resilience is defined as a multi-dimensional capacity, shaped by the dynamic interplay of social, human, financial, physical and natural capitals. Yet, previous studies and existing adaptation strategies have predominantly addressed these dimensions in isolation, neglecting the analysis of their interactions. This study contributes to the development of integrated, systems-based adaptation strategies by examining how interactions among capitals shape resilience outcomes. Drawing on Flood Resilience Measurement for Communities (FRMC) data from 293 flood-prone communities from 19 developing countries globally, this study adopts a mixed-methods design combining network analysis of covariation between capitals with a qualitative thematic analysis of stakeholder-perceived causal mechanisms linking those capitals. Our findings reveal that resilience is not simply the sum of independent capitals, but an emergent property of their interactions. Both quantitative and qualitative analysis show dense connections among capitals, with social capital found to play a central role by enabling coordination, resource mobilization, and knowledge exchange. Financial and human capitals were also found to act as foundational enablers, particularly in supporting the development and effective use of physical and natural assets. Feedback loops among capitals highlight the importance of mutually reinforcing dynamics in building adaptive capacity. These findings underscore the need for disaster risk reduction and climate adaptation strategies to move beyond siloed interventions. We advocate for integrated funding and policy frameworks that target coupled capitals, such as pairing infrastructure development with social & financial capacity-building, to leverage synergies across sectors.