Rebuilding Urban Places After Disaster

Disasters—natural ones, such as hurricanes, floods, or earthquakes, and unnatural ones such as terrorist attacks—are part of the American experience in the twenty-first century. The challenges of preparing for these events, withstanding their impact, and rebuilding communities afterward require strategic responses from different levels of government in partnership with the private sector and in accordance with the public will. Disasters have a disproportionate effect on urban places. Dense by definition, cities and their environs suffer great damage to their complex, interdependent social, environmental, and economic systems. Social and medical services collapse. Long-standing problems in educational access and quality become especially acute. Local economies cease to function. Cultural resources disappear. The plight of New Orleans and several smaller Gulf Coast cities exemplifies this phenomenon. This volume examines the rebuilding of cities and their environs after a disaster and focuses on four major issues: making cities less vulnerable to disaster, reestablishing economic viability, responding to the permanent needs of the displaced, and recreating a sense of place. Success in these areas requires that priorities be set cooperatively, and this goal poses significant challenges for rebuilding efforts in a democratic, market-based society. Who sets priorities and how? Can participatory decision-making be organized under conditions requiring focused, strategic choices? How do issues of race and class intersect with these priorities? Should the purpose of rebuilding be restoration or reformation? Contributors address these and other questions related to environmental conditions, economic imperatives, social welfare concerns, and issues of planning and design in light of the lessons to be drawn from Hurricane Katrina.

Disasters are not natural. Natural events such as earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, etc. become disasters because of the fragile relations that exist between the natural, human and built environments. Sadly, major disasters will always occur in towns and cities in the developing world where resources are limited, people are vulnerable and needs are particularly great. The prevailing state of emergency challenges thoughtful and sustainable planning and construction. Yet it is possible, in theory and in practice, to construct them in a way that provides a sustainable environment and improved conditions for current and future generations. Rebuilding After Disasters emphasizes the role of the built environment in the re-establishment of lives and sustainable livelihoods after disasters. Expert contributors explain the principal challenges facing professionals and practitioners in the building industry. This book will be of great value to decision makers, students and researchers in the fields of architecture, social sciences, engineering, planning, geography, and disaster recovery.

This collection assembles some of the country s foremost social scientists in one volume. It contains diverse investigations of metropolitan transformation, recent education policy, the (in)justice of disaster relief, the politics of aesthetics and design, immigration, the mass media, social movements, and the practice of social science itself, among others. Whatever their subjects, the writers investigate the promise and constraints of democratic practice in a time of disturbing growth in inequality and political disempowerment. Although they at times differ from one another, more often, they challenge popular received wisdom on a number of these topics. Cumulatively, the volume amounts to a critical sociological excavation of the United States from its leading social critics that will prove useful to specialists and general readers alike."

This volume examines lessons learned in reducing the impact of disasters on communities in China, Japan and other countries world-wide. Asia is the most disaster-prone continent. The 2012 data on natural disasters in 28 Asian countries, released by the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction and the Belgian-based Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters on December 11th, 2012 showed that, from 1950 to 2011, nine out of ten people affected by disasters globally were in Asia; that of the top five disasters that created the most damage in 2012, three were in China; that China led the list of most disasters in 2012; and, that China was the only “multi-hazard”-prone country. Similarly, the March 2011 Tohoku earthquake was the greatest known earthquake ever to have hit Japan and one of the five strongest ever recorded earthquakes in the world since 1900. Subsequently, the Center for Rebuilding Sustainable Communities after Disasters at the University of Massachusetts Boston organized a conference in November 2012 to survey the best practices in post-disaster rebuilding efforts in China and Japan. This edited book consists of selected papers from the proceedings of that event and previously invited contributions from leading scholars in post-disaster rebuilding in China, Japan and Namibia.

Urban Planning for Disaster Recovery focuses on disaster recovery from the perspective of urban planning, an underutilized tactic that can significantly reduce disaster risks. The book examines disaster risk reduction (DRR), in particular, the recovery stage of what is widely known as the disaster cycle. The theoretical underpinning of the book derives from a number of sources in urban planning and disaster management literature, and is illustrated by a series of case studies. It consists of five sections, each of which opens with a conceptual framework that is followed by a series of supporting and illustrative cases as practical examples. These examples both complement and critique the theoretical base provided, demonstrating the need to apply the concepts in location-specific ways. Examines disaster recovery from an urban planning perspective Illustrates key concepts with real-world case studies Explores the contributions of experts, urban planners, NGOs, and community members

Urban Waterways: Evolving Paradigms for Hydro-based Urbanisms investigates the environmental, cultural, and economic future of cities on the water in the 21st century. Collected here are urban projects across the globe from 15 cities on 5 continents representing not only the complexities of urban life in the face of environmental concerns, global economic shifts, waste and energy management, and post-industrial legacies but also new thinking and practices that are emerging from a reconsideration of the value of hydro-based urbanism through a recalibration of our settlement patterns. Contexts range from coastal cities to cities associated with river, lake and wetlands ecologies and offer strategies from retrofitting and recovery to imagining new cities on the water. Although each of these urban projects proposes site specific responses that are locally relevant and respond to the city’s distinctive landscapes, they are also linked through their reconceptualization of a land and water dialogue and in the manner in which they tap into the broader spectrum of what portunism that suggests alternative directions and visions for our urban futures. The congress was held in Durban South Africa.

Post-disaster housing concerns and dilemmas are complex, global in nature, and are inextricably intertwined with social, economic, and political considerations. The multi-faceted nature of housing recovery requires a holistic approach that accounts for its numerous dimensions and contours that are best captured with multi-disciplinary, multi-scalar, and multi-hazard approaches. This book serves as a valuable resource by highlighting the key issues and challenges that need to be addressed with regard to post-disaster housing. By featuring a collection of case studies on various disasters that have occurred globally and written by scholars and practitioners from various disciplines, it highlights the rich diversity of approaches taken to solve post-disaster housing problems. Coming home after Disaster can serve as an essential reference for researchers and practitioners in disaster and emergency management, public administration, public policy, urban planning, sociology, anthropology, geography, economics, architecture, and other related social science fields. Key features in this book are: Addresses a wide range of dilemmas such as differential levels of social and physical vulnerability; problems related to land tenure, home-ownership, property rights, planning, and zoning; and political and legal challenges to housing recovery. Discusses the role played by public, private and non-governmental organizations, the informal sector, financial institutions, and insurance in rebuilding and housing recovery. Features global case studies, incorporates relevant examples and policies, and offers solutions from a range of scholars working in multiple disciplines and different countries.