Moving beyond engineering supremacy: Knowledge systems for urban resilience in Canada's Metro Vancouver region

Drawing on multi-disciplinary literature (socio-ecological resilience, disaster management, and urban planning) this article seeks to uncover what are the knowledge systems that underpin existing flood management regimes and how they enable or constrain learning for future flood risks (sea level rise). The article is situated in a case study of flood and climate risk governance in Canada's Metro Vancouver region. Drawing on 60 interviews with emergency managers, engineers, planners, and elected officials, and a regional survey of resilience practitioners, we identify distinct knowledge systems used for managing urban resilience. We find that technical hazard- and engineering-based knowledge that has maintained its supremacy over the past decades is being increasingly challenged through knowledge co-production. We find that formalized and shadow spaces for learning and collaborative problem-solving break down barriers and enable a collective search for flood resilience solutions across governance levels.