Managing Urban Disaster Risk: Analysis and Adaptation Frameworks for Integrated Settlement Development Programming for the Urban Poor

Abstract

The damage caused by the dramatic worldwide increase in ‘natural’ disasters is staggering, with the poor in developing countries being most at risk. Disasters make their already precarious living conditions worse, creating a vicious circle of poverty from which they find it hard to escape. To achieve sustainable poverty reduction, more and more attention has thus been given to the need to reduce disaster risk through development work. Despite related efforts, organisations working in urban settlement development still struggle to effectively tackle disaster risk in their daily work.



To address this challenge, the present research aims to demonstrate how disaster risk management could be integrated into settlement development programming (i.e. social housing, upgrading and/or local urban governance programmes). The re search methodology used is an innovative combination of case studies, grounded theory and systems analysis. Case studies of four settlement development programmes were carried out in 15 disaster-prone slum communities in El Salvador, Central America, and their wider context analysed at the municipal, national, and global levels. The outcomes were complemented and generalised with investigations in a series of other countries. The research methods included interviews, group discussions, walk-through analyses, observations, text reviews, questionnaires, research workshops and ‘hands-on’ practice.



This study shows, on the one hand, that while architects, planners and other urban development actors have the responsibility for developing secure and sustainable settlements, they have nevertheless been unconscious contributors to the increase in disaster risk. In fact, they can negatively influence all three components of risk: hazard(s), vulnerability, and coping capacity. The reasons for this relate to: (a) the lack of knowledge regarding the two-way and multifaceted relationship between disasters and urban settlement development; (b) the separation between the working fields of disaster risk management and settlement development planning from the local to the global level – as well as among these levels; and (c) the substantial gap between what households and communities need or do to cope with risk and disasters and the ways in which urban development actors support them. On the other hand, the research importantly demonstrates that urban development actors – through their programmes, organisational structures and mechanisms for social housing provision and financing – can offer a potentially powerful platform for effectively tackling disaster risk.



The empirical and theoretical knowledge developed by this re search is of an intra-, trans- and interdisciplinary/intersectoral nature. Based on the identification of the nexus between disasters and urban settlement development, and of the incomplete approaches to disaster risk management and its mainstreaming, analytical, conceptual and operational frameworks were elaborated. The resulting ‘Analysis and Adaptation Model’ combines seven strategies for the integration of disaster risk management into development programming with five complementary measures to reduce disaster risk. The model provides a comprehensive understanding of the meaning and scope of disaster risk management integration (which applies to the pre- and the post-disaster con text). This assists in both analysing organisations’ work and taking action to improve programme implementation. In conclusion, the research demonstrates how urban development actors working at the local, municipal, national and/or international level might exploit their potential to address the increasing disaster risk of the poor and thus enhance the sustainable reduction of both risk and poverty.

• author: Wamsler, Christine
• supervisor: Kerstin Barup
• opponent: Prof Davis, Ian, Visiting Professor in the Resilience Centre of Cranfield University, Professor of Disaster Management in Coventry University, and Visiting Professor in Oxford Brookes University with links to the Centre for Development and Emergency Planning (CENDEP)
• organization: Housing Development and Management (research group)
• publishing date: 2007
• type: Thesis
• publication status: published
• subject: Architecture
• keywords: poverty reduction, urban planning, vulnerability, adaptation, settlement development planning, development assistance, disaster, social housing, disaster risk management, prevention, mainstreaming, El Salvador, mitigation, risk accumulation, risk reduction
• in: HDM thesis series
• volume: Thesis 4
• pages: 298 pages
• defense location: Lecture hall B, at the Architecture School, Sölvegatan 24, Lund
• defense date: 2008-04-01 10:15:00
• ISBN: 978-91-87866-31-9
• language: English
• LU publication?: yes
• additional info: Abstract in Swedish (Sammanfattning): Antalet naturkatastrofer ökar dramatiskt i världen, och skadeverkningarna drabbar framförallt fattiga människor i u-länder. Katastroferna försämrar deras redan dåliga levnadsförhållanden och de hamnar i en ond cirkel, en fattigdomsspiral som de har svårt att ta sig ur. För att uppnå en hållbar och framgångsrik fattigdomsbekämpning har därför behovet av att minska katastrofrisken genom utvecklingsarbete uppmärksammats. Dock tvingas organisationer som arbetar med urbana bosättningar att lägga stor möda på att hantera katastrofrisker i sitt dagliga arbete på grund av bristande samordning. Målsättningen med denna studie har varit att undersöka hur katastrofriskhantering kan integreras i program för utveckling av bostadsområden och/eller program för lokal urban förvaltning. Forskningsmetodiken består av en kombination av fallstudier, grounded theory och systemanalys. Fallstudier från fyra bosättningsprogram utfördes i 15 katastrofbenägna slumområden i El Salvador, Centralamerika, och analyserades på kommunal, nationell och global nivå. Resultaten kompletterades med undersökningar i flera andra länder. Forskningsmetoderna inkluderade intervjuer, gruppdiskussioner, s.k. walk-through-analyser, observationer, textöversyn, frågeformulär, workshops och praktisk tillämpning. Denna studie visar å ena sidan att arkitekter, planerare och andra aktörer involverade i urban utveckling omedvetet har medverkat till en ökning av katastrofrisker, detta trots att de är ansvariga för att utveckla säkra och hållbara bosättningar. Dessa aktörer kan i själva verket ha ett negativt inflytande på alla tre riskkomponenterna: faror, sårbarhet och förmåga. Å andra sidan visar studien att aktörer inom urban utveckling – genom sina program, organisatoriska struktur och mekanismer för tillhandahållande och finansiering av bostadsområden för låginkomsttagare – skulle kunna erbjuda en stark plattform för att effektivt hantera katastrofrisker. Genom att identifiera sambandet mellan katastrofer och utbygganden av urbana bosättningar samt att identifiera ofullständiga förhållningssätt till katastrofriskhantering och dess mainstreaming, har analytiska, konceptuella och operationella ramverk utarbetats. I ’analys- och anpassningsmodellen’ som presenteras i denna studie kombineras sju strategier för integrering av katastrofriskhantering i utvecklingsplanering med fem kompletterande åtgärder för att reducera katastrofrisken. Modellen syftar till att illustrera betydelsen och omfattningen av integrering av katastrofriskhantering (vilket gäller såväl före som efter katastrofer). Sammanfattningsvis visar denna forskning på hur aktörer som arbetar med urban utveckling på lokal, kommunal, nationell och/eller internationell nivå, skulle kunna utnyttja sin möjlighet att rikta in sitt arbete på de ökande katastrofrisker som fattiga utsätts för och därigenom även förbättra riskreduktion såväl som fattigdomsbekämpning.
• id: 28396b5b-523a-4ff7-91bb-4cbe4bf71f9e (old id 1036522)
• date added to LUP: 2016-04-04 10:32:12
• date last changed: 2023-11-14 15:48:30