Suchergebnisse

PurposeThe way that disasters are managed, or indeed mis-managed, is often represented diagrammatically as a "disaster cycle". The cyclical aspects of the disaster (risk) management concept, comprised of numerous operational phases, have, in recent years, been criticised for conceptualising and representing disasters in an overly simplistic way that typically starts with a disaster "event" – and subsequently leads onto yet another disaster. Such cyclical thinking has been proven to not be very useful for the complexities associated with understanding disasters and their risks. This paper aims to present an alternative conceptualisation of the Disaster Risk Management phases, in a way that can better factor in the underlying root causes that create differential levels of vulnerability.Design/methodology/approachThis is a conceptual paper developed, through a review of the literature and discussions between the authors, as a counterpoint to the pervasive "disaster cycle".FindingsThe "Disaster Risk Management (DRM) Helix" is presented as an alternative way of conceptualising the DRM phases. The helictical conceptualisation of DRM phases presented in this paper is intentionally presented to start a discussion (rather than as an end point) on how best to move away from the constraints of the "disaster cycle".Originality/valueIt is envisaged that the helictical conceptualisation of DRM can be suitably malleable to include important factors such as temporal considerations and the underlying root causes that create differential levels of vulnerability. It is, thus, the intention that the DRM Helix can provide a catalyst for exciting discussions and future adaptations of the diagram that can better capture the dynamic (non-cyclical) nature of disasters and their root causes.

Purpose
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. The purpose of this paper is to explore 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.


Design/methodology/approach
Drawing upon the UK context, the paper uses a novel methodological approach combining critical discourse analysis and focus groups with security experts and policymakers.


Findings
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.


Originality/value
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 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.

PurposeDisaster research is often geared towards logocentrism and has relatively few outputs that explore alternative forms of representation, particularly those using an artistic medium. This paper explores how the creative use of audio representation can enhance understanding of flooding experiences, challenging the predominant text-based approach within qualitative study.Design/methodology/approachDuring a series of visits to people who had been flooded in 2019 in the UK, interviews and ambient sounds were recorded, analysed and then intertwined with musical elements composed by the lead author. The result is a phonographic representation of the synthesised data. The process explores a tripartite, creative, sonic approach that comingles thematic spoken excerpts with local sounds and musical compositions.FindingsThis article presents three sonic vignettes that illustrate the use of audio as a medium for academic research outputs. It contributes to the current consensus that the interpretation, representation and dissemination of research findings should be broadened beyond the dominance of the written word to align with the ethos of the Disaster Studies Manifesto.Research limitations/implicationsThe research contributes to disaster scholarship by developing a transdisciplinary approach to explore people's experiences. By retaining the participants' voices at its core, it makes use of in-depth, rich data to illustrate individuality, rather than aiming to generalise.Originality/valueVery little disaster research has focussed on pushing the boundaries of investigation by using the arts as a lens for both the researcher and their audience. Such work may connect with a wider range of people compared to a text-based "traditional" academic output. It can offer new opportunities for practical uses within Disaster Risk Reduction, for example as a communicative and educational tool.Contribution to impactThis paper contributes to understanding the impact of developing audio representation as a medium for conveying people's experiences of flooded homes.

Intro -- Understanding Disaster Risk: A Multidimensional Approach -- Copyright -- Contents -- Contributors -- Preface -- References -- Further reading -- Chapter 0.1: Resilience in the Anthropocene -- 0.1.1. Introduction -- 0.1.2. Methodology -- 0.1.3. Results -- 0.1.3.1. Insights from human geography -- 0.1.3.2. Insights from systemic design -- 0.1.3.3. Insights from futures studies -- 0.1.4. Discussion -- 0.1.5. Final considerations -- References -- Section 1: Risk assessment -- Chapter 1.1: Bridging two cultures of fire risk at the wildland-urban interface: The case of Haifa, Israel -- 1.1.1. Introduction -- 1.1.1.1. The social-ecological-technological systems (SETS) framework -- 1.1.1.2. Forest-fire risk at the wildland urban interface in Mediterranean ecosystems -- 1.1.1.3. Adapting to forest fires at the WUI: State of the art -- 1.1.2. Studying forest fires at the WUI in Haifa -- 1.1.2.1. Case study description -- 1.1.2.2. Methodology -- 1.1.3. Results -- 1.1.3.1. Factors and configuration of fire risk in Haifa -- 1.1.3.1.1. The hazard -- 1.1.3.1.2. Exposure -- 1.1.3.2. Approaches for adapting to fire risk at the WUI in Haifa -- 1.1.3.2.1. Thinning -- 1.1.3.2.2. Firebreaks and buffers -- 1.1.3.2.3. Removing pine trees -- 1.1.3.2.4. Landscape patchiness -- 1.1.3.2.5. Grazing -- 1.1.3.2.6. Other strategies -- 1.1.4. Discussion -- 1.1.5. Conclusions -- Acknowledgments -- References -- Chapter 1.2: A review of flood vulnerability indices for coastal cities -- 1.2.1. Introduction -- 1.2.1.1. Qualitative and quantitative measures of vulnerability -- 1.2.2. Methods -- 1.2.3. Results and discussion -- 1.2.3.1. Conceptions of vulnerability -- 1.2.3.2. Audience and stated goals -- 1.2.3.3. Temporal scope -- 1.2.3.4. Geographic scale -- 1.2.3.5. Unit of analysis -- 1.2.3.6. Variable inclusion -- 1.2.3.7. Social -- 1.2.3.8. Economic.

Purpose
Cultural heritage (CH) sites are not only important components of a country's identity but can also be important drivers of tourism. However, an increasing number of extreme events associated with the impacts of climate change, natural hazards and human-induced threats are posing significant problems in conserving and managing CH worldwide. Consequently, improved climate change adaptation and enhanced hazard/threat mitigation strategies have become critical (but to-date under-researched) considerations. The purpose of this paper is to identify the key hazards and threats to CH sites, the most common types of risks to CH and the strategies being adopted to mitigate or even eradicate those risks.


Design/methodology/approach
This paper reviews 80 CH case studies from around the world, which have been presented at a UNESCO International Training Course between 2006 and 2016. The case studies cover 45 different countries and provide practical insights into the key challenges being encountered in a variety of "at risk" locations.


Findings
The analysis assesses the key natural hazards and human-induced threats to the sites, an overview of the typical impacts to the tangible components of heritage and identifies the types of strategies being adopted to mitigate the risks, some of which could be transferred across cultural and geographical contexts.


Originality/value
The paper provides a wealth of useful information related to how challenges faced by CH sites might be addressed in the future.

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.

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.

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.

PurposeDisaster studies has emerged as an international interdisciplinary body of knowledge; however, similar to other academic disciplines, its terminology is predominantly anglophone. This paper explores the implications of translating disaster studies terminology, most often theorised in English, into other languages and back.Design/methodology/approachThe authors chose six of the most commonly used (as well as debated and contested) terms that are prominent in academic, policy and public discourses: resilience, vulnerability, capacity, disaster, hazard and risk. These words were translated into 54 languages and the meanings were articulated descriptively in cases where the translation did not have exactly the same meaning as the word in English. The authors then analysed these meanings in order to understand implications of disaster scholars working between dominant and "peripheral" languages.FindingsFindings of the study demonstrate that many of the terms so casually used in disaster studies in English do not translate easily – or at all – opening the concepts that are encoded in these terms for further interpretation. Moreover, the terms used in disaster studies are not only conceptualised in English but are also tied to an anglophone approach to research. It is important to consider the intertwined implications that the use of the terminology carries, including the creation of a "separate" language, power vs communication and linguistic imperialism.Originality/valueUnderstanding of the meaning (and contestation of meaning) of these terms in English provides an insight into the power relationships between English and the other language. Given the need to translate key concepts from English into other languages, it is important to appreciate their cultural and ideological "baggage".

PurposeThis paper explores ontological assumptions of disasters and introduces some concepts from Chinese disaster scholarship. The authors suggest an approach to explore and engage with different ontologies of disaster without direct comparison, that can further interdisciplinary and cross-cultural collaboration.Design/methodology/approachBy reviewing the academic literature and focussing on two recent key translational texts by Chinese scholars, the authors show what can be revealed about ontology and the potential influence on thinking about human-environment interactions and disaster risk reduction (DRR) policy.FindingsIn Chinese disaster studies, the goal of a "harmonious human-environment relationship" is a foundational concept. There is a clear hierarchical and ontological distinction between humans and the natural ecological system viewed as an integrated whole, with underlying rules that can be discovered by scientific research to enable management of a harmonious relationship.Practical implicationsThe authors suggest a practical way to begin with the following questions: What is the societal goal/aim? What is nature? What is society? How do these interact to create disasters? And what are the implications for DRR research and practice? The authors also demonstrate the importance of probing and understanding the underlying ontologies that are the foundation for theory, which in turn is the foundation for policy and action.Originality/valueIdentification of ontological differences in interdisciplinary and cross-cultural research collaborations and working across these boundaries is challenging and rarely questioned. Yet, as demonstrated here, considering ontological assumptions of the causes of disaster, within and across cultures and disciplines, is essential for collaboration and further research.

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.