Cities, Disaster Risk and Adaptation

Christine Wamsler

ISBN 10: 0415591031 / ISBN 13: 9780415591034

Editore: Routledge November 2013, 2013

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Worldwide, disasters and climate change pose a serious risk to sustainable urban development, resulting in escalating human and economic costs. Consequently, city authorities and other urban actors face the challenge of integrating risk reduction and adaptation strategies into their work. However, related knowledge and expertise are still scarce and fragmented.Cities, Disaster Risk and Adaptation explores ways in which resilient cities can be 'built' and sustainable urban transformations achieved. The book provides a comprehensive understanding of urban risk reduction and adaptation planning, exploring key theoretical concepts and analysing the complex interrelations between cities, disasters and climate change. Furthermore, it provides an overview of current risk reduction and adaptation approaches taken by both city authorities and city dwellers from diverse contexts in low, middle and high income nations. Finally, the book offers a planning framework for reducing and adapting to risk in urban areas by expanding on pre-existing positive actions and addressing current shortfalls in theory and practice. The importance of a distributed urban governance system, in which institutions' and citizens' adaptive capacities can support and complement each other, is highlighted.This book takes a holistic approach; it integrates perspectives and practice from risk reduction and climate change adaptation based on a specific urban viewpoint. The text is richly supplemented with boxed case studies written by renowned academics and practitioners in the field and 'test yourself' scenarios that integrate theory into practice. Each chapter contains learning objectives, end of chapter questions, suggested further reading and web resources, as well as a wealth of tables and figures. This book is essential reading for undergraduate and postgraduate students of geography, urban studies and planning, architecture, environmental studies, international development, sociology and sustainability studies. This book addresses the urgent need for re-evaluating current city planning to provide better solutions. With disasters and changing climatic conditions being a product of past developments, responding and adapting effectively to risk is inherently complex. This book explores the complex interrelation between disasters, climate change, and cities, provides an understanding on how to integrate sustainable risk reduction and adaptation into city planning - both in theory and in practice, and analyzes the role that people's coping strategies, urban institutions, and governance can play in addressing increasing disaster risk. Very nice clean, tight copy free of any marks.

Codice articolo 303184

Dati bibliografici

• Titolo: Cities, Disaster Risk and Adaptation
• Editore: Routledge November 2013
• Data di pubblicazione: 2013
• Lingua: Inglese
• ISBN 10: 0415591031
• ISBN 13: 9780415591034
• Rilegatura: Trade Paperback
• Condizione: Used - Very Good
• Cataloghi dei venditori:
  • Architecture - Urban Planning

Descrizione articolo

Riassunto

Worldwide, disasters and climate change pose a serious risk to sustainable urban development, resulting in escalating human and economic costs. Consequently, city authorities and other urban actors face the challenge of integrating risk reduction and adaptation strategies into their work. However, related knowledge and expertise are still scarce and fragmented.

Cities, Disaster Risk and Adaptation explores ways in which resilient cities can be ‘built’ and sustainable urban transformations achieved. The book provides a comprehensive understanding of urban risk reduction and adaptation planning, exploring key theoretical concepts and analysing the complex interrelations between cities, disasters and climate change. Furthermore, it provides an overview of current risk reduction and adaptation approaches taken by both city authorities and city dwellers from diverse contexts in low, middle and high income nations. Finally, the book offers a planning framework for reducing and adapting to risk in urban areas by expanding on pre-existing positive actions and addressing current shortfalls in theory and practice. The importance of a distributed urban governance system, in which institutions’ and citizens’ adaptive capacities can support and complement each other, is highlighted.

This book takes a holistic approach; it integrates perspectives and practice from risk reduction and climate change adaptation based on a specific urban viewpoint. The text is richly supplemented with boxed case studies written by renowned academics and practitioners in the field and ‘test yourself’ scenarios that integrate theory into practice. Each chapter contains learning objectives, end of chapter questions, suggested further reading and web resources, as well as a wealth of tables and figures. This book is essential reading for undergraduate and postgraduate students of geography, urban studies and planning, architecture, environmental studies, international development, sociology and sustainability studies.

Informazioni sull?autore

Christine Wamsler is Associate Professor at Lund University Centre for Sustainability Studies (LUCSUS), Associate of Lund University Centre for Risk Assessment and Management (LUCRAM), Sweden, and Honorary Fellow at the Global Urban Research Centre (GURC) and the Institute for Development Policy and Management (IDPM) of the University of Manchester, UK. She is also part of the personnel pool of risk reduction experts of the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency (MSB). In addition, Christine has been working as a consultant for diff erent organizations, such as the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), the German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ), the German, Austrian and Belgium Red Cross, the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), the Swedish Organization for Individual Relief (SOIR/IM) and various local NGOs. Places where she has worked and conducted research include Brazil, Chile, Colombia, El Salvador, Germany, Guatemala, India, Kosovo, Mexico, Peru, the Philippines, Sweden, Tanzania, Togo and the UK. Christine's research interests are in sustainable city development and focus on disaster risk reduction, climate change adaptation and urban resilience.