A Review of Barriers to Flood-Resilient Retrofitting in Residential Properties

Riverine flooding poses a significant risk to residential properties worldwide, with climate change exacerbating its frequency and intensity. Although flood-resilient retrofitting (FRR) is increasingly recognized as a mitigation measure for reducing flood damage, its implementation remains low. While existing research has identified numerous FRR implementation barriers, these are often fragmented and lack theoretical integration. This study fills this gap through a theory-driven systematic review of 58 studies, selected from 2,762 articles. A total of 22 barriers were identified and grouped into six categories: financial; technical; environmental and climatic; regulatory; social, behavioral, and cultural; and communication barriers. This review determines not only the relative prominence of each barrier but also its interdependencies and compounding effects. Drawing on insights from Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) Theory, Institutional Theory, and Behavioral Economics, this study conceptualizes how these barriers interact and reinforce one another, affecting household-level decision-making and system-level implementation outcomes. Although findings draw on global evidence, they are relevant to contexts such as Victoria, Australia, where aging housing stock and fragmented governance arrangements limit FRR adoption. This research provides a theory-informed understanding of retrofit barriers, emphasizing the need for more integrated policy, governance, and industry approaches to enhance residential flood resilience and FRR implementation.