Urban planning for disaster risk reduction: Establishing 2nd wave criteria

It is increasingly common for governments to seek integration of urban planning and disaster risk reduction (DRR) processes, in recognition of the deep connections between human settlements and risk profiles relating to disasters. This paper sets out a conceptual framework critically assessing the potential to integrate aspects of urban planning and disaster risk reduction. Urban planning seeks to favourably influence the spatial and functional organisation of cities and regions. It has developed from multiple traditions across design, health, law social action and economic development. It now has established legislative, agency, governmental and professional bases that provide legitimacy and frameworks for action. In contrast, disaster risk reduction (DRR) is relatively new, and is derived from emergency management traditions based primarily in the development of systems oriented to responding to large scale disaster events, such as flood, fires and storms. The professional base of DRR, currently being reconceived, derives from multiple sources including the sciences, disaster research, and response and other civil agencies. This paper argues that to meaningfully integrate planning and DRR, it is necessary to understand their fundamental qualities. A framework of six categories is set out to demonstrate the key points of intersection between urban planning and DRR. The paper argues that the integration or otherwise of urban planning can be understood as one indicator of a transition to Wave 2 of DRR and establishes key propositions to determine this. The paper concludes with an assessment of the challenges and potentials of integrating urban planning and DRR.