Suchergebnisse

This is a conference paper. It was presented at the 6th International Building Resilience Conference 2016 http://buildresilience2016.nz/ ; The UN's Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 highlights the importance of engaging multiple stakeholders in Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR). However, questions remain about whether the increasingly broad range of people who are required to make more informed decisions about risk reduction actually have the professional competencies to do so. DRR in the UK is a part of the resilience agenda, which implies a proactive approach to managing disasters and reducing the risks. In Australia, DRR is integrated within national disaster management policy, shifting responsibility away from government towards a proactive private sector, community and individual. When analysed closely it becomes apparent that despite the presence of legislation that encourages integrating such considerations into built environment processes, many built environment practitioners have not received the training required for dealing with DRR. In addition, proactively dealing with disaster risk in both countries is primarily implemented by emergency managers that typically have not been trained to deal with the required range of DRR approaches. These observations suggest that if DRR considerations are going to become better integrated into the (re)development of increasingly urbanised world, then there is a need to better integrate DRR principles into the core professional training (or at least continued professional development) of some of these key built environment practitioners. Therefore with the aim of assessing the extent to which DRR is (or can be) a core professional competency, this paper a) presents a critical review of the current core competency requirements for members of professional institutions, and b) provides an overview of the training of built environment practitioners in the UK and Australia.

This is a conference paper. ; Disasters are becoming more prevalent and their burdening impacts are felt worldwide, with this it is becoming of vital importance to understand vulnerability and the reduction of disaster risk. Since the January earthquake in 2010, that killed hundreds of thousands and left millions displaced, Haiti has faced huge challenges to provide basic relief to the 1.5 million people taking refuge in relief camps in and around the capital, Port-au-Prince. One year on and a prolonged period of 'relief' is still being experienced; innovative solutions are needed to enable Disaster Risk Reduction principles to be integrated into long-term sustainable development. Continuing political inactivity and inadequate targeting of aid has stunted the (re)construction of vital public health facilities, such as water and sanitation, consequently leaving the nation extremely vulnerable. This paper reports upon the opportunities and mechanisms that could stimulate the integration of DRR, in particular resilience measures, into emergency response and (re)construction of WATSAN facilities in Haiti.

This paper was accepted for publication in the journal Disaster Prevention and Management and the definitive published version is available at https://doi.org/10.1108/DPM-04-2018-0121 ; A number of severe weather events have influenced a shift in UK policy concerning how climate-induced hazards are managed. Whist this shift has encouraged improvements in emergency management and preparedness, the risk of climate change is increasingly becoming securitised within policy discourses, and enmeshed with broader agendas traditionally associated with human-induced threats. Climate change is seen as a security risk because it can impede development of a nation. This paper explores the evolution of the securitisation of climate change, and interrogates how such framings influence a range of conceptual and policy focused approaches towards both security and climate change. Drawing upon the UK context, the paper uses a novel methodological approach combining critical discourse analysis and focus groups with security experts and policy makers. The resulting policy landscape appears inexorably skewed towards short-term decision cycles that do little to mitigate longer-term threats to the nation's assets. Whilst a prominent political action on a global level is required in order to mitigate the root causes (i.e. GHG emissions), national level efforts focus on adaptation (preparedness to the impacts of climate-induced hazards), and are forming part of the security agenda. These issues are not restricted to the UK: understanding the role of security and its relationship to climate change becomes more pressing and urgent, as it informs the consequences of securitising climate change risks for development-disaster risk system.

This paper was accepted for publication in the journal Cities and the definitive published version is available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2016.05.017. ; There are an increasing number of articles and publications that attempt to define resilience in the face of numerous drivers of risk. Most of this work has tried to identify the values and virtues that are encompassed within a resilient approach in relation to the fragile relationships between the social, natural and built environments (including, for instance, abilities to prevent, react, transform and adapt). However, much less attention has been paid to identifying the practical implications of these values and virtues once a paradigm of resilience has been adopted. In order to address this gap, this study examines what institutions in the UK have actually done when they attempt to enhance resilience. Instead of defining what resilience is, this paper focuses on what local and national governments and other stakeholders do when something is called (or is attempted to be made) 'resilient'. The analysis of 30 key policy documents, a review of 20 formal meetings of a Local Resilient Forum, and 11 interviews with stakeholders confirm that different (and often competing) understandings of resilience coexist; but this work also reveal that two rather different approaches to resilience dominate in the UK. The first responds to security risks, based on a protectionist approach by the State, the other responds to natural risks, and prescribes the transfer of responsibilities from the State to other stakeholders. The analysis illustrates the extent to which resilience has become a highly complex, malleable and dynamic political construct with significant implications for the ways in which policy is enacted and enforced, often with unexpected consequences.

This is a conference paper. It is also available at: http://programm.corp.at/cdrom2014/papers2014/CORP2014_8.pdf ; A review of academic and grey literature in disaster risk reduction, construction, urban planning and architecture shows that the term 'resilience' has been increasingly adopted to describe an ethical posture towards interventions in the built environment. Policy makers in the United Kingdom (UK) have followed this trend and increasingly adopt the resilience language in policy and Government agendas. However, a detailed examination of over 20 UK policy documents and 19 interviews with stakeholders involved in the planning, design, construction and operation of the built environment, reveals a multiplicity of diverse uses and representations of resilience. Moreover, the meaning attributed to the term is often influenced by the professional remits and decision space of policy and decision makers. Given these results, we argue that resilience should not be seen as a consensual concept but rather as an unfolding ethical paradigm through which stakeholders create their own dynamic representations and meanings. By illustrating how the term is often reified in divergent and incompatible ways, we identify five tensions that this creates, and the implications from both a theoretical and a policy perspective. Given the malleable and nebulous nature of the term we suggest that it should be used cautiously within both contexts.

This paper was published in the proceedings of the Security Research Conference, 10th Future Security Berlin, September 15 – 17, 2015. Jürgen Beyerer, Andreas Meissner, Jürgen Geisler (Eds.) FRAUNHOFER VERLAG ISBN 978-3-8396-0908-8. ; Prone to multiple interpretations, 'security' is becoming a multiple and hence, nebulous concept. Security can be associated with national security and the State's military power; notions of the individual safety; or human values and fundamental rights issues. This is clearly demonstrated in Europe with various member states using various concepts of security, making them event and space specific. Using two case study regions, this paper demonstrates the increasing complexity of the concept of security, as prominent security discourses and their impacts and consequences fall across more than one category of security dimensions. A large number of actors involved in, and affected by, security issues makes it harder to identify security dimensions. The political, economic, environmental and other security dimensions are interconnected and form a complex system of inter- and intra- dependent networks. Understanding these complexities will aid policy makers in formulating measures that influence an evolving European concept of security.

Threats to society and the built environment are diverse and include extreme natural and human induced hazards. Hazards such as floods, storms and terrorist attacks may not only threaten the lives of many people but can result in disasters that threaten economies and long-term development. Consequently, the UK government has recognised the importance of promoting the resilience agenda. Within this agenda there is growing acceptance that professionals involved with the construction industry need to understand the principles of, and become more engaged in, Disaster Risk Management (DRM). The outputs from a three year project, that has utilised a pluralistic methodology, are presented in the form of a decision support framework (DSF). The DSF will assist key stakeholders to integrate DRM strategies into the planning, design, operation and maintenance of the built environment. The central component of the DSF is 'Pre-Empt for Projects' - which assists key stakeholders (in the earliest design phase) to: identify a range of threats; assess the implications of any identified threats; and undertake mitigative adaptations if necessary.

This is an Open Access Article. It is published by MDPI under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported Licence (CC BY). Full details of this licence are available at: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ ; Numerous fast-growing coastal cities in the Global South are exposed to coastal, fluvial and pluvial floods, as a consequence of decades-long rapid urbanisation and weak enforcement of planning regulations. Integrating Blue–Green Infrastructure (BGI) concepts into the development of the urban landscape has the potential to increase flood resilience and offer broader environmental benefits. BGI is an innovative approach that combines water management and green infrastructure to maintain natural water cycles and enhance environmental and urban renewal. This paper identifies socio-economic, cultural and political challenges influencing BGI adoption in Semarang city in Indonesia. Data was collected from residents of three communities through interviews (n=30), questionnaires (n=180) and focus groups with policymakers and community representatives. The combined quantitative and qualitative data provide an understanding of the specific socio-economic, cultural and political issues at play and reveal flood experience as well as perceptions of community members regarding flood management. Challenges are presented from the point of view of residents and local policymakers and are based on a framework for facilitating local BGI adoption, setting the principles of "inclusive", "appropriate" and "proactive" as pre-conditions for enhancing community resilience to flooding.

Note that a revised version of this paper will be available at: https://dspace.lboro.ac.uk/2134/23501 This is an Open Access Article. It is published by the European Geosciences Union under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence (CC BY). Full details of this licence are available at: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ ; Emergency responders often have to operate and respond to emergency situations during dynamic weather conditions, including floods. This paper demonstrates a novel method using existing tools and datasets to evaluate emergency responder accessibility during flood events within the City of Leicester, UK. Accessibility was quantified using the 8- and 10-minute legislative targets for emergency provision for the Ambulance and Fire & Rescue services respectively under 'normal', no flood conditions, as well as flood scenarios of various magnitudes (namely the 1 in 20 year-, 1 in 100-year and 1 in 1,000-year recurrence intervals), with both surface water and fluvial flood conditions considered. Flood restrictions were processed based on previous hydrodynamic inundation modelling undertaken and inputted into a Network Analysis framework as restrictions for surface water and fluvial flood events. Surface water flooding was shown to cause more disruption to emergency responders operating within the city due to its widespread and spatially distributed footprint when compared to fluvial flood events of comparable magnitude. Fire & Rescue 10-minute accessibility was shown to decrease from 100 %, 66.5 %, 39.8 % and 26.2 % under the no flood, 1 in 20-year, 1 in 100-year and 1 in 1,000- year surface water flood scenarios respectively. Furthermore, total inaccessibility was shown to increase with flood magnitude, increasing from 6.0 % to 31.0 % under the 1 in 20-year and 1 in 100-year surface water flooding scenarios respectively. Further, the evolution of emergency service accessibility through a surface water flood event is outlined, demonstrating the rapid onset of impacts on emergency service accessibility within the first 15-minutes of the surface water flood event, with a reduction in service coverage and overlap being witnessed for the Ambulance service under a 1 in 100-year flood event. The study provides evidence to guide strategic planning for decision makers prior to and during emergency response to flood events at the cityscale and provides a readily transferable method to explore the impacts of natural hazards or disruptions on additional cities or regions based on historic, scenario-based events or real-time forecasting if such data is available.