However, in many cities and countries that have successfully attracted economic investment, investment in disaster risk reduction and the capacities to implement have often lagged behind. Urbanization mirrors economic growth, so rapid urban development contributes to the concentration of people and assets in hazardous locations, including tropical cyclone and tsunami-prone coastlines and river basins. The urban poor are particularly vulnerable to climate change and natural hazards due to their location within cities, and the lack of reliable basic services. The most vulnerable groups, typically living in poverty, tend to settle and build homes in unsafe (informal) locations and are without adequate provision of infrastructure and critical services. There are numerous characteristics of current urban planning and development that drive vulnerability including the fact that disaster risk is rarely taken into account in investment decisions. Weak regulation, for instance the lack of enforcement of building codes, planning permission and regulatory investment, often linked to corruption, allow the transfer of risk from construction companies to those who live and work in the buildings. This also means disasters are affecting more urban dwellers with increasingly harmful consequences for employment, housing and critical infrastructure, such as roads, power and water supplies. Economic or political reasons for city expansion often outweigh considerations of risk. ![]() The growing concentration of people and assets in high-hazard areas, along with the marginalisation of the urban poor in particularly unsafe areas drives exposure. the garbage slide killed that over 200 people in an informal settlement in Manila, the Philippines, Reuters-AlertNet, 2000). the 2013 garment factory collapse in Bangladesh), or inadequate provision of services such as waste management (e.g. There is also the potential for the creation of man-made hazards through poor regulation of construction and industrial practices in urban areas (e.g. Lack of access to safe housing with good provision for water, sanitation, health care and education affects the capacity of urban residents to recover. Destruction or damage to infrastructure can lead to water scarcity or contamination. For example, poor solid waste management can cause blockage to storm water and sewage networks that can lead to waterlogging and flooding. The lack of adequate infrastructure and services, unsafe housing, inadequate and poor health services can turn natural hazard into a disaster. Inadequately planned and managed cities also create new risks which threaten to erode current development gains. Urban development can change the environment or ecosystem through, for instance, the expansion of paved, impermeable areas, which prevent rain from being absorbed by the soil thereby increasing flood hazard, particularly in low-lying areas. The significance of this risk is underlined by the fact that in 2012, more than 60% of the area projected to be urban in 2030 was yet to be built.Ĭity regions are becoming increasingly exposed and are creating new patterns of intensive risk at the same time, poorly planned and managed urban development has generated new hazards and extensive risk: ![]() ![]() In 2015 the World Economic Forum identified urban planning failures as a distinct risk factor. Urban development investment is also set to increase from US$7.2 trillion in 2011 to US$12 trillion by 2020. Growing concentrations of people and economic activities in many cities are seen to overlap with areas of high risk exposure.Įstimates suggest that by 2050, urban population exposed to cyclones will increase from 310 million to 680 million while exposure to major earthquake will increase from 370 million to 870 million. The growing rate of urbanization and the increase in population density (in cities) can lead to creation of risk, especially when urbanization is rapid, poorly planned and occurring in a context of widespread poverty. People, poverty and disaster risk are increasingly concentrated in cities. Source: Tom Young Wildlife/ShutterstockĪ new wave of urbanisation is unfolding in hazard-exposed countries and with it, new opportunities for resilient investment emerge. UNDRR, 2013 Dwellings of the slum of Dharavi in Mumbai, India. Whether or not disaster risk is factored into investment decisions in urban development will have a decisive influence on the future of disaster risk reduction.
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