Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction 2015
Making development sustainable: The future of disaster risk management


background image
216
Part III - Chapter 11
tenfold (IPCC, 2014

IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change). 2014,Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability, Working Group II. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press.. .
). Many city governments in low and middle-income countries are no longer in full control of urban development (ibid.).
Urban segregation, inequality and extensive disaster risk
Capital has always flowed into cities to provide the housing, services and infrastructure required to support production, consumption and government. However, urban development has become an increasingly important circuit for capital accumulation per se. Since the 1970s, more capital has flowed into urban development than into any productive sector (Harvey, 1985

Harvey, David. 1985,The Urbanization of Capital, First Edition (US), First Printing edition (November 1, 1985). Johns Hopkins University Press.. .
). Speculative urban development has therefore become fertile ground for both the generation and the transfer of disaster risks (UNISDR, 2013a

UNISDR. 2013a,Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction: From Shared Risk to Shared Value: the Business Case for Disaster Risk Reduction, Geneva, Switzerland: UNISDR.. .
).
Rapidly expanding city regions also generate their own risks, as landscapes and ecosystems are degraded and poverty and inequality shape
new extensive riskscapes. The larger populations and higher population density in cities not only mean that larger numbers of people are exposed to hazards, but also that the characteristics of the ecological system or environment are changed, thereby potentially increasing the level of disaster risk (Donner and Rodriguez, 2008

Donner, William and Rodríguez, Avidán. 2008,Population Composition, Migration and Inequality: The Influence of Demographic Changes on Disaster Risk and Vulnerability, Social Forces, Vol. 87. No. 2 (Dec. 2008): 1089-1114.. .
).
For example, low-density urban expansion is a mechanism that directly or indirectly contributes to increased disaster risk. Expansion of the area of paved and impermeable surfaces increases peak run-off in storms and therefore magnifies flood hazard. Much of the speculative development for middle-income households reproduces inefficient suburban layouts (Box. 11.2), which waste the available land and energy and are ultimately unsustainable. Expanding cities may also exhaust resources such as water in the surrounding regions and contribute to the degradation of biodiversity and ecosystems (IPCC, 2014

IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change). 2014,Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability, Working Group II. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press.. .
). Finally,
Figure 11.3 Urban population (percentage of total) versus GDP per capita
(Source: UNISDR with data from the World Bank.)
Previous page Previous Section  
Contact us  |  Disclaimer  |  Our Partners  |  References  |  Acknowledgements  |  PreventionWeb |  WCDRR  |  © United Nations 2015.