The Vulnerability Of Cities

Author : Mark Pelling
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1136551476
Total Pages : 224 pages
Book Rating : 4.75/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Vulnerability of Cities written by Mark Pelling and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2012-06-25 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When disaster strikes in cities the effects can be catastrophic compared to other environments. But what factors actually determine the vulnerability or resilience of cities? The Vulnerability of Cities fills a vital gap in disaster studies by examining the too-often overlooked impact of disasters on cities, the conditions leading to high losses from urban disasters and why some households and communities withstand disaster more effectively than others. Mark Pelling takes a fresh look at the literature on disasters and urbanization in light of recent catastrophes. He presents three detailed studies of cities in the global South, drawn from countries with contrasting political and developmental contexts: Bridgetown, Barbados - a liberal democracy; Georgetown, Guyana - a post socialist-state; and Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic - an authoritarian state in democratic transition. This book demonstrates that strengthening local capacity - through appropriate housing, disaster-preparedness, infrastructure and livelihoods - is crucial to improving civic resilience to disasters. Equally important are strong partnerships between local community-based organizations, external non-governmental and governmental organizations, public and private sectors and between city and national government. The author highlights and discusses these best practices for handling urban disasters. With rapid urbanization across the globe, this book is a must-read for professionals, policy-makers, students and researchers in disaster management, urban development and planning, transport planning, architecture, social studies and earth sciences.

Author : William D. Solecki
Publisher : Island Press
ISBN 13 : 1610919793
Total Pages : 330 pages
Book Rating : 4.91/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Climate Change and U.S. Cities written by William D. Solecki and published by Island Press. This book was released on 2022-02-08 with total page 330 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Approximately 80% of the U.S. population now lives in urban metropolitan areas, and this number is expected to grow significantly in the coming years. At the same time, the built infrastructure sustaining these populations has become increasingly vulnerable to climate change. Stresses to existing systems, such as buildings, energy, transportation, water, and sanitation are growing. If the status quo continues, these systems will be unable to support a high quality of life for urban residents over the next decades, a vulnerability exacerbated by climate change impacts. Understanding this dilemma and identifying a path forward is particularly important as cities are becoming leading agents of climate action. Prepared as a follow-up to the Fourth National Climate Assessment (NCA), Climate Change and U.S. Cities documents the current understanding of existing and future climate risk for U.S. cities, urban systems, and the residents that depend on them. Beginning with an examination of the existing science since 2012, chapters develop connections between existing and emerging climate risk, adaptation planning, and the role of networks and organizations in facilitating climate action in cities. From studies revealing disaster vulnerability among low-income populations to the development of key indicators for tracking climate change, this is an essential, foundational analysis. Importantly, the assessment puts a critical emphasis on the cross-cutting factors of economics, equity, and governance. Urban stakeholders and decision makers will come away with a full picture of existing climate risks and a set of conclusions and recommendations for action. Many cities in the United States still have not yet planned for climate change and the costs of inaction are great. With bold analysis, Climate Change and U.S. Cities reveals the need for action and the tools that cities must harness to effect decisive, meaningful change.

Author : Rajib Shaw
Publisher : Butterworth-Heinemann
ISBN 13 : 0128023775
Total Pages : 368 pages
Book Rating : 4.78/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Urban Disasters and Resilience in Asia written by Rajib Shaw and published by Butterworth-Heinemann. This book was released on 2016-01-06 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Urban Disasters and Resilience in Asia presents the latest information on the intensity and frequency of disasters. Specifically, the fact that, in urban areas, more than 50% of the world's population is living on just 2% of the land surface, with most of these cities located in Asia and developing countries that have high vulnerability and intensification. The book offers an in-depth and multidisciplinary approach to reducing the impact of disasters by examining specific evidence from events in these areas that can be used to develop best practices and increase urban resilience worldwide. As urban resilience is largely a function of resilient and resourceful citizens, building cities which are more resilient internally and externally can lead to more productive economic returns. In an era of rapid urbanization and increasing disaster risks and vulnerabilities in Asian cities, Urban Disasters and Resilience in Asia is an invaluable tool for policy makers, researchers, and practitioners working in both public and private sectors. Explores a broad range of aspects of disaster and urban resiliency, including environmental, economic, architectural, and engineering factors Bridges the gap between urban resilience and rural areas and community building Provides evidence-based data that can lead to improved disaster resiliency in urban Asia Focuses on Asian cities, some of the most densely populated areas on the planet, where disasters are particularly devastating

Author : The World Bank
Publisher : World Bank Publications
ISBN 13 : 0821389637
Total Pages : 276 pages
Book Rating : 4.38/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Urban Risk Assessments written by The World Bank and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2012-06-22 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Urban Risk Assessment (URA) is a framework for assessing disaster and climate risk in cities based on three pillars: a hazard impact assessment, an institutional assessment, and a socioeconomic assessment. The URA can be applied flexibly based on a city's available financial resources, available data, and institutional capacity.

Author : Davia Cox Downey
Publisher : CRC Press
ISBN 13 : 9781482247404
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.02/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Cities and Disasters written by Davia Cox Downey and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 2015-09-02 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book presents interdisciplinary perspectives on emergency management policy, economic development, and the various factors that affect the recovery process after natural disasters strike urban areas. Given global climate change, rising sea levels, and the increasing impact of disasters, there is a real urgency to rethink how locales—particularly densely populated urban areas—should deal with logistic and preparedness issues in the wake of large-scale disasters. A look at recent catastrophes provides real-world case studies that emphasize the diverse challenges.

Author : Zoé A. Hamstead
Publisher : Springer Nature
ISBN 13 : 3030631311
Total Pages : 190 pages
Book Rating : 4.14/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Resilient Urban Futures written by Zoé A. Hamstead and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2021-04-06 with total page 190 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This open access book addresses the way in which urban and urbanizing regions profoundly impact and are impacted by climate change. The editors and authors show why cities must wage simultaneous battles to curb global climate change trends while adapting and transforming to address local climate impacts. This book addresses how cities develop anticipatory and long-range planning capacities for more resilient futures, earnest collaboration across disciplines, and radical reconfigurations of the power regimes that have institutionalized the disenfranchisement of minority groups. Although planning processes consider visions for the future, the editors highlight a more ambitious long-term positive visioning approach that accounts for unpredictability, system dynamics and equity in decision-making. This volume brings the science of urban transformation together with practices of professionals who govern and manage our social, ecological and technological systems to design processes by which cities may achieve resilient urban futures in the face of climate change.

Author : Sarah Dooling
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1317165977
Total Pages : 232 pages
Book Rating : 4.72/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Cities, Nature and Development written by Sarah Dooling and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-05-23 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Bringing together an interdisciplinary team of scholars, this book illustrates how and why cities are comprised by a mosaic of vulnerable human and ecological communities. Case studies ranging across various international settings reveal how 'urban vulnerabilities' is an effective metaphor and analytic lens for advancing political ecological theories on the relationships between cities, nature and development. Contributions expand upon conceptions of vulnerability as a static condition and instead present vulnerability as a phenomenon that is produced through complex and contentious planning histories, and which may, in turn, be politicized, exploited and-in some instances-contested. Expanding upon snapshot vulnerability assessments, this volume articulates vulnerability as a process that is marked by the accumulation of risk over time and the transference of risk across space and populations. Moving beyond notions of vulnerability as a singular, case studies demonstrate that social and ecological vulnerabilities are deeply integrated and, as such, are irreducible to one or the other. This volume also highlights how the production of vulnerabilities is frequently achieved through integrated and mutually reinforcing economic development and environmentally driven agendas. This collection thus suggests that vulnerability-and also forms of resilience-are implicated in efforts to plan for and manage sustainable cities. This book provides timely and provocative perspectives on a wide range of urban issues including: park management, gentrification, suburban expansion, sustainability planning, local organic food systems, hazards management, climate change activism and north-south flows of urban environmental externalities. Collectively, these works reveal the complexities of urban vulnerabilities-related to scalar interactions, accumulation and transfer of risk, politicization and governance, and capacity for resistance-and in doing so, provide readers with coherent, robust and well-theorized analysis of the politics and production of urban vulnerabilities.

Author : Cynthia Rosenzweig
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 1316603334
Total Pages : 855 pages
Book Rating : 4.38/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Climate Change and Cities written by Cynthia Rosenzweig and published by . This book was released on 2018-03-29 with total page 855 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Climate Change and Cities bridges science-to-action for climate change adaptation and mitigation efforts in cities around the world.

Author : Neeraj Prasad
Publisher : World Bank Publications
ISBN 13 : 9780821377758
Total Pages : 184 pages
Book Rating : 4.52/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Climate Resilient Cities written by Neeraj Prasad and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2009-02-19 with total page 184 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'Climate Resilient Cities: A Primer on Reducing Vulnerabilities to Disasters' provides city administrators with exactly what they need to know about the complex and compelling challenges of climate change. The book helps local governments create training, capacity building, and capital investment programs for building sustainable, resilient communities. A step-by-step self-assessment challenges policymakers to think about the resources needed to combat natural disasters through an innovative hot spot risk and vulnerability identifi cation tool. This primer is unique from other resources in its treatment of climate change using a dual-track approach that integrates both mitigation (lowering contributions to greenhouse gases) and adaptation (preparing for impacts of climate change) with disaster risk management. The book is relevant both to cities that are just beginning to think about climate change as well as those that already have well established policies, institutions, and strategies in place. By providing a range of city-level examples of sound practices around the world, the book demonstrates that there are many practical actions that cities can take to build resilience to climate change and natural disasters.

Author : Ebru A. Gencer
Publisher : Springer
ISBN 13 : 9783642294693
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.93/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Interplay between Urban Development, Vulnerability, and Risk Management written by Ebru A. Gencer and published by Springer. This book was released on 2013-07-02 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Natural disasters are increasingly affecting the world, taking lives unexpectedly and leaving many others injured and homeless. Moreover, disasters disrupt local, national and even global economies, instantly changing the direction of development. In the first half of 2011 alone, 108 natural disasters occurred, killing over 23 thousand people, affecting nearly 44 million others and causing more than 253 billion US dollars of economic damages (CRED 2011,1). Large urban settlements have become increasingly vulnerable to the impacts of natural disasters. The concentration of substandard infrastructure and housing, material assets, and inherent socio-economic inequalities increase vulnerability to disasters in large urban areas, especially in developing countries. The size, number, functions, and geographical distribution of large- and megacities create a special concern for disaster risk. Good urban management practices can be a powerful catalyst for reducing losses from natural disasters, while simultaneously helping to develop a sustainable environment. Yet, the existing situation indicates that sustainable planning and risk management measures are not taken into consideration or may not be put into practice for a variety of financial, political, and social reasons. This book argues that, on one hand, socio-economic disparities resulting from unsustainable urban development can increase vulnerability to natural hazards, and on the other hand, when paired with natural hazards this increased vulnerability can negatively affect urban areas, resulting in further inequality. This book will showcase this argument with theoretical reviews and quantitative analyses on the interplay between sustainable development and disaster vulnerability as well as an in-depth case study of the role of urban planning and risk management practices in creating the socio-economic and spatial vulnerabilities and predicted earthquake risk in the megacity of Istanbul.