Urban Studies and Planning Commons^™

Understanding Disasters From A Local Perspective: Insights Into Improving Assistance For Social Housing And Settlement Development, Christine Wamsler

Christine Wamsler

No abstract provided.

Tackling Urban Vulnerability: An Operational Framework For Aid Organisations, Christine Wamsler

Christine Wamsler

No abstract provided.

Managing Urban Disasters, Christine Wamsler

Christine Wamsler

No abstract provided.

Mainstreaming Risk Reduction In Urban Planning And Housing: A Challenge For International Aid Organisations, Christine Wamsler

Christine Wamsler

The effects of ‘natural’ disasters in cities can be worse than in other environments, with poor and marginalised urban communities in the developing world being most at risk. To avoid post-disaster destruction and the forced eviction of these communities, proactive and preventive urban planning, including housing, is required. This paper examines current perceptions and practices within international aid organisations regarding the existing and potential roles of urban planning as a tool for reducing disaster risk. It reveals that urban planning confronts many of the generic challenges to mainstreaming risk reduction in development planning. However, it faces additional barriers. The main …

Building On Disasters, Christine Wamsler

Christine Wamsler

Disasters occur when a hazardous event strikes a vulnerable human settlement whose inhabitants have insufficient capacity to respond. Natural hazards include earthquakes, wind storms, landslides, wildfires, volcanic eruptions, droughts, tsunamis and flooding. The growing vulnerability of human settlements to natural hazards makes disasters more likely and more severe. The numbers confirm this trend: between 1975 and 2005 there was a five-fold increase in disasters, and over the past 10 years, approximately 2.6 billion people have been affected, compared with 1.6 billion during the previous decade.

In cities, disaster risk has increased as a result of (a) high population densities and …

Integrating Risk Reduction, Urban Planning And Housing: Lessons From El Salvador, Christine Wamsler

Christine Wamsler

Increasingly, attention has been given to the need to mainstream risk reduction in development work in order to reduce the vulnerability of the urban poor. Using El Salvador as a case study, the paper analyses the mainstreaming process in the developmental disciplines of urban planning and housing. The overall aim is to identify how the existing separation between risk reduction, urban planning and housing can be overcome and integration achieved. Since Hurricane Mitch in 1998, and especially after the 2001 earthquakes, not only relief and development organisations, but also social housing organisations have initiated a shift to include risk reduction …

Marco Operativo Para La Integración De La Gestión Del Riesgo Para Organizaciones Trabajando En El Desarrollo De Los Asentamientos Humanos, Christine Wamsler

Christine Wamsler

No abstract provided.

Operational Framework For Integrating Risk Reduction: For Organisations Working In Settlement Development Planning, Christine Wamsler

Christine Wamsler

Over the past decades, the frequency of the occurrence of so-called ‘natural’ disasters has grown significantly worldwide, resulting in escalating human and economic losses. In this context, it is the developing countries that bear the greatest burden in terms of the human lives and proportion of gross domestic product lost as a result of disasters. Increasing attention has thus been given to the need to reduce disaster risk through development work, in order to bring about sustainable poverty reduction. However, aid organisations (including donor and implementing organisations), as well as national and municipal authorities still struggle to effectively tackle disaster …