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It is clear that an upgrade, or even a rethinking, is urgently needed in how the United States maps and communicates risks of coastal floods. Several studies report that population growth, gross domestic product (GDP), and climate change have all led to significant changes in flood exposure, and estimate that 41 million people-rather than the 13 million people shown in FEMA flood maps-live within the 100-year floodplain (Wing et al. National studies have shown that 25% of Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) flood claims lay outside of the FEMA 100-year flood zone (Blessing et al. Extreme events like Superstorm Sandy have revealed the inadequacies of how we calculate, map, and use knowledge about flood risks. One trillion dollars in United States’ coastal assets are currently vulnerable to coastal floods, and sea level rise threatens to expose 13 million people to flooding by 2100 (Reidmiller et al. The burgeoning development of coastal cities coupled with increasing exposure to sea level rise and extreme weather events has exacerbated the vulnerability of coastal communities and infrastructure to floods.

Through this case study, we hope to demonstrate the value of knowledge systems analysis as a method to stress-test and identify the weaknesses of a knowledge system that warrant attention, as well as to inform potential methods ofupgrading or redesigning that system in support of building resilient cities. In 2012, Superstorm Sandy exposed in the national spotlight the shortcomings of how we calculate, map, and use knowledge about flood risk. In this chapter, we conduct a knowledge system analysis of FEMA’s Flood Insurance Rate Maps in New York City.

We refer to knowledge systems as the organizational practices and routines that produce, validate and review, communicate, and use knowledge relevant to policy and decision-making. However, what counts as a good estimate of such risks is constructed through the design of a knowledge system that ratifies certain ideas and methods over others.

In order to make good flood risk reduction and resilience decisions, cities are interested in gaining better insights into what are perceived to be the “real” risks of floods.