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The Role of Formal and Informal Insurance Mechanisms for Reducing Urban Disaster Risk: A South-North Comparison

Wamsler, Christine LU and Lawson, Nigel (2011) In Housing Studies 26(2). p.197-223
Abstract
Climate change and disaster pose a serious and growing risk to sustainable urban development planning, with disasters having quadrupled in the last three decades. The extent of the changing climatic conditions, in combination with growing urbanisation, is making both Southern and Northern institutions and associated social security and governance systems increasingly inadequate in dealing with extreme weather events. This results in an urgent need to discover innovative ways to adapt “outdated” institutional responses and to increase local-level engagement. This paper analyses current risk financing mechanisms at local and institutional levels in both a Southern and a Northern city (San Salvador and Manchester respectively). The North’s... (More)
Climate change and disaster pose a serious and growing risk to sustainable urban development planning, with disasters having quadrupled in the last three decades. The extent of the changing climatic conditions, in combination with growing urbanisation, is making both Southern and Northern institutions and associated social security and governance systems increasingly inadequate in dealing with extreme weather events. This results in an urgent need to discover innovative ways to adapt “outdated” institutional responses and to increase local-level engagement. This paper analyses current risk financing mechanisms at local and institutional levels in both a Southern and a Northern city (San Salvador and Manchester respectively). The North’s dependency on insurance fails to contribute to resilience whereas the South’s reliance on nongovernmental aid organisations (NGOs) has driven a range of bottom-up approaches that support improved risk reduction. Although measures for risk financing are still not part of the NGOs’ repertoire, this provides lessons from which Northern cities could also learn. (Less)
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author
and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
planning, insurance, risk financing, Disaster risk reduction, climate change, social housing
in
Housing Studies
volume
26
issue
2
pages
197 - 223
publisher
Taylor & Francis
external identifiers
  • wos:000287588900002
  • scopus:79951859650
ISSN
1466-1810
DOI
10.1080/02673037.2011.542087
language
English
LU publication?
yes
additional info
special issue on ‘Disasters, Housing and Actuarialism: On the Securitisation of Risk'
id
fd1012fd-3851-4cae-8fb5-7d26b1607204 (old id 1719827)
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 10:12:35
date last changed
2022-02-17 07:48:14
@article{fd1012fd-3851-4cae-8fb5-7d26b1607204,
  abstract     = {{Climate change and disaster pose a serious and growing risk to sustainable urban development planning, with disasters having quadrupled in the last three decades. The extent of the changing climatic conditions, in combination with growing urbanisation, is making both Southern and Northern institutions and associated social security and governance systems increasingly inadequate in dealing with extreme weather events. This results in an urgent need to discover innovative ways to adapt “outdated” institutional responses and to increase local-level engagement. This paper analyses current risk financing mechanisms at local and institutional levels in both a Southern and a Northern city (San Salvador and Manchester respectively). The North’s dependency on insurance fails to contribute to resilience whereas the South’s reliance on nongovernmental aid organisations (NGOs) has driven a range of bottom-up approaches that support improved risk reduction. Although measures for risk financing are still not part of the NGOs’ repertoire, this provides lessons from which Northern cities could also learn.}},
  author       = {{Wamsler, Christine and Lawson, Nigel}},
  issn         = {{1466-1810}},
  keywords     = {{planning; insurance; risk financing; Disaster risk reduction; climate change; social housing}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{2}},
  pages        = {{197--223}},
  publisher    = {{Taylor & Francis}},
  series       = {{Housing Studies}},
  title        = {{The Role of Formal and Informal Insurance Mechanisms for Reducing Urban Disaster Risk: A South-North Comparison}},
  url          = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/1653593/4392443.pdf}},
  doi          = {{10.1080/02673037.2011.542087}},
  volume       = {{26}},
  year         = {{2011}},
}