After the Floods tells the dramatic story of a small town grappling with environmental risk in the aftermath of two devastating "thousand-year floods." When the waters had receded, Ellicott City found itself facing difficult questions: What can we know about future risks to our communities? What is the meaning of place and history when preservation goals come into conflict with flood protection? What should we protect? Who gets to speak for the community? In Ellicott City's search for answers, we can find important lessons for other small communities that must begin preparing for future climate risks.

Ken Conca is a professor in the Department of Environment, Development, and Health at American University. His research focuses on environment, conflict, and peacebuilding; water politics and governance; and the role of the United Nations in environmental governance. He was a founding member of the UN Environment Programme's Expert Advisory Group on Conflict and Peacebuilding, and is on the Board of Directors of the Environmental Peacebuilding Association. Recent books include the Grawemeyer Award-winning An Unfinished Foundation: The United Nations and Global Environmental Governance and The Oxford Handbook of Water Politics and Policy (both with Oxford University Press). Conca earned his Ph.D. from the Energy and Resources Group at the University of California, Berkeley.

Foreword
List of figures and tables
List of abbreviations
Sources for chapter epigraphs
Chapter One: A Flood of Questions
Chapter Two: Life in the Floodplain: Risk, Recovery, Recurrence
Chapter Three: Before the Flood: Uncertainty and Controversy in Managing Flood Risk
Chapter Four: The First Flood
Chapter Five: After the First Flood: Master-planning a Watershed
Chapter Six: The Second Flood
Chapter Seven: After the Second Flood: Tear It Down or Safe and Sound?
Chapter Eight: Development and its Discontents
Chapter Nine: The Master Plan
Chapter Ten: Before the Next Flood: Lessons from Ellicott City
Chapter Eleven: New Lives for Old Towns: Preparing for the Difficult Conversation