Policy and Practice: Recursive Learning From Crisis

Data from the 2007 U.K. floods are examined using institutional theory and practice theory lenses. We note that learning from crisis ultimately results in “lessons learned” being institutionalized in new norms, tools, and infrastructure. As the basis of legitimate action for coping in the future, they may provide a measure of resilience, but crisis management and recovery is an active and emergent process. Learning must also identify the ability to create resilience by developing the capacity and ability to be creative when such “lessons learned” prove inappropriate in an emerging scenario. This has implications for policy learning processes that may be difficult to justify since public inquiries are also institutionalized events that require “legitimate” recommendations to codify learning.