A Safe City Approach to Urban Sustainability: Developing a Framework for Community Resilience
| DOI | 10.1177/0019556120150103 |
| Author | Chandrani Bandyopadhyay,P. J. Philip |
| Date | 01 January 2015 |
| Published date | 01 January 2015 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
A SAFE CITY APPROACH TO URBAN
SUSTAINABILITY: DEVELOPING A
FRAMEWORK
FOR
COMMUNITY RESILIENCE
CHANDRANI BANDYOPADHYAY AND
P.
J.
PHILIP
Rapid urbanisation has been the hallmark
of
demographic
growth
in
the 2(Jh
Century.
In 2008, the urban population equaled
the rural and is expected to grow rapidly
in
future, led primarily
by Africa and Asia. The inevitable lref!d
of
urbanisation has
concentrated economic activity and pushed economic growth
and
also promoted inequality
and
social disruption along
with environmental damage. The authors argue that urban
development should incorporate an approach towards building
safer cities by building resilience
of
systems. Enhancing urban
resilience should therefore follow a people-centred and multi-
faceted
approach, to integrate and· highlight the physical,
social, economic, governance and community characteristics.
In the complex risk landscape
of
cities, planning
for
future
can be successful only
if
an integrated approach
for
long-
term planning within the socio-technical-built-environmental
systems is adopted, rather than focusing on separate sectors.
Safe development thus denotes enhancing the capacity
of
the
communities and systems supporting them to withstand and cope
with disasters. Therefore. increasing resilience
of
vulnerable
communities and systems is required as priority action.
INTROPUCTION
THE HISTORY
of
mankind traces the intrinsic relationship
of
human
endurance
and natural phenomenon. Favourable natural conditions
facilitated growth
of
great civilisations while extreme natural events or
disasters often resulted in their destruction. The fall
of
Indus Valley and
Minoan civilisations are attributed to natural disasters. Even today, disasters
cause extensive devastation all over the world, causing death, injuries,
destruction
of
assets and devastation
of
economies and livelihoods. Even
today, disasters cause huge devastation; on an average the global cost
of
disasters exceeded about US$ 100 million per year over the last decade
A
SAFE
CITY
APPROACH
TO
URBAN
SUSTAINABILITY
/
41
CHANDRANI
BANDYOPADHYAYANDP.J.
PHILIP
(United Nations System Task Team, 2012). The Nepal Earthquake
of
25
April 2015 which killed an estimated 8000 people has caused losses that
. will take decades for the nation to recover from
Just as disasters form an intrinsic part
of
human society, urbanisation has
been its hallmark over the ages. Urban settlements evolved out
of
people's
needs for protection and security; or as centres
of
trade, storage
of
surplus
produce, defence, religion or entertainment on the basis
of
a diversified
economic base. The term "city" therefore implies a "concentration
of
people
in a given geographic area who support themselves on a fairly pennanent
basis from the economic activities
of
the area" (Gallion & Eisner, 1986).
Thrm.~gh
history, cities
of
the Indus Valley, Mesopotamia, Egypt, Aegean
and mainland Greece emerged as centres
of
power, culture, aesthetics, trade,
communication, and learning. Rapid urbanisation has been the hallmark
of
demographic growth in the
20th
Century. The worid urban population has
increased rapidly from 228 million to
2.8
billion during the
20th
Century
and is expected to go up to five billion
by
2030 (United Nations Population
Fund, 2007). In 2008, the urban population equaled the rural and is expected
to grow rapidly in future, led primarily
by
Africa and Asia.
Urbanisation and Urban Risks are Inexorably Linked
The inevitable trend
of
urbanisation has both positive and negative
connotations. As centres
of
economic activities, governance and trade, cities
push economic growth
of
the region. Along with the development, cities
also concentrate on issues
of
poverty, inequality, environmental damage
and social disruption. However, the solutions to these issues also emerge
from cities themselves, the advantages thus outweighing the disadvantages
(United Nations Population Fund, 2007). The effort should be aimed towards
promoting urban sustainability from its very outset.
The urban landscape is highly vulnerable to disasters
of
various
nature and intensities. Cities located in hazard-prone areas become more
vulnerable due to overlapping
of
physical and socio-economic factors like
unsafe housing, uncontrolled use
of
land, high population densities, lack
of
access
of
resources and unsafe livelihoods. Most major cities
of
the
world are located in coastal regions or near river deltas, thus increasing
their risk
of
hydro-meteorological disasters. Rapidly expanding cities
are continuously creating new risks and challenges for disaster risk
reduction. Increasing urbanisation, especially in Asia and Africa translate
into habitation in unsafe areas like river flood plains, unstable slopes and
coastlines, thus ensuring greater exposure to hazards. Most often, it is the
poor and first-generation migrants who reside
in
these unstable sites, their
risk compounded by their poverty, informal livelihoods, lack
of
access to
services and financial backup.
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