CIB-TG63 & UN/ISDR Resilient Cities Webinars

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1 April 2013 CIB-TG63 & UN/ISDR Resilient Cities Webinars Resilient Cities Webinars (online seminars) were held on 29th, 30th and 31st May and 1st June Organising the event was a joint initiative by CIB- TG63 and UNISDR (The United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction) Making Cities Resilient Campaign (My City is Getting Ready!) and the CIB Secretariat. The event addressed natural hazards and the built environment, focusing on urban environments. Background While the frequency of natural hazards is increasing, urban environments are becoming more vulnerable and exposed to natural hazards, driven by growth in urban populations, increasing concentrations of people and massive infrastructure investments in urban areas. More than half of the world s population now live in a city, and according to United Nations projection by 2050 two third of the world population will live in cities. Rapid urban growth, especially in low and middle income countries of the global south, is accompanied by the both the proliferation of informal settlements as well as large-scale investments in formal construction projects. While deaths from disasters is decreasing globally, the economic losses from disasters in increasing. These losses are felt most acutely at the household level, but also strongly impact on regional and national economies. Disaster risks pose short-term and long-term risks to the sustainable development of urban areas and therefore need to be considered in all forms of construction and city-building. The webinars shared knowledge and expertise between CIB members, UN/ISDR, and cities that are involved in the Making Cities Resilient Campaign. The target audience for the webinars were local governments, disaster risk reduction practitioners, planners and researchers. Organising the event online

2 was a strategy to reach as much audience as possible from all around the world to highlight the importance of this issue and discus the related up-to date research and practice. The event was formed of four webinars. Each webinar session included 4-5 presentations followed by question and answer time in order to engage participants in full. The event received over 600 registrations in total. Looking forward to the joint research roadmap The webinars were the first action of a newly defined partnership between CIB and UNISDR (see separate News article here). The webinars were structured so as to lead to a better understanding of what research is needed, both from CIB and UNISDR perspectives, on the subject of planning, building and construction to reduce risks in urban context. They were structured around some of the principles for urban risk reduction laid out in the 10-essentials for making cities resilient, which is part of the UNISDR campaign. The webinar topics included Enabling risk reduction through urban planning, Engaging multiple stakeholders in DRR (disaster risk reduction) for cities, People s needs and expectations in post-disaster reconstruction, and Ten Essentials for Making Cities Resilient Local Government Self Assessment Tool. from the webinars have already been used in the UNISDR Making Cities Resilient Report, 2012 and for defining the terms of reference for the UNISDR technical working group on urban planning and disaster risks. Key messages and recommendations of the webinars are as the following: Webinar 1: Enabling risk reduction through urban planning Urban planning is one of the key governance systems that can enable future risk reduction in urban areas. The planning profession has useful skills to bring to risk reduction because a) planners are equipped to deal with future scenarios, complex systems and means of monitoring future development; b) assessment of risk in cities requires an understanding of complex socio-economic systems which take place at different spatial scales; c) risk reduction requires various forms of expertise from technical skills to political and social interactions with various groups, and planners are equipped to bring these together. Urban planning aims to both reduce future risk in cities (e.g. safe land for development, investments in infrastructure, safe construction, affordability for the poor) as well as to manage existing urban risks (e.g. informal settlements, unsafe buildings and lack of infrastructure, social vulnerability). A strategic approach is needed to address overall risk and vulnerability instead of making laws reacting to the latest disaster. This includes strategic management and planning, which incorporates expertise in relation to disaster planning and addresses the existing challenges in cities, e.g. preservation of cultural heritage, provision of affordable housing and informal settlements. Earthquake Turkey The outputs of the event will contribute to the CIB research roadmap, outlining key areas for further research related to Disasters and the Built environment, produced by TG63 and UNISDR for the world community of researchers, research institutes and research funding agencies. The draft roadmap for consultation will be presented at a special session at CIB World Congress 2013, Brisbane, Australia, at the UNISDR 2013 Global Platform in Geneva and at the i- Rec Research and Information for Reconstruction conference in Switzerland, in May The material PIM project houses Planning must be based on identification of risks and vulnerabilities. Risk sectors of a city and stakeholders for each risk sector must be identified, e.g. vulnerability in production capacity (industry), infrastructure networks, building stock, hazardous Page 2 of

3 uses, vulnerable populations and groups. Working with community-based organisations, and groups of urban poor can help to identify vulnerabilities and planners are uniquely placed to make use of these resources. Research from the Commonwealth Institute of Planners shows that many planners and professional networks of planners are not able to adequately assess risks, given levels of currently available information. To tackle risks, regional and national level approaches are also needed. This includes expanding planning systems across normal boundaries, for example planning for an entire flood plain management. Directives from national-level government are required to mandate that risk reduction be accounted for in local development. Urban planning can bring multiple actors, different levels, sectors of government, but this is not always current practice. There is a wide range of construction stakeholders that need to be involved in DRR and their inputs need to be optimised, ideally in the pre-construction stages when it is the least costly to implement risk reduction into construction. It is not just a case of understanding which stakeholders need to be involved; we also need to understand when and how they should be involved in DRR related decision making. An example of cultural heritage was presented, outlining how in the protection of cultural heritage from disaster risk, the coordination between multiple stakeholders from heritage domains, urban development and disaster management is necessary. Disaster risk reduction measures should consider protecting urban cultural heritage, which includes not only isolated monuments but entire traditional neighbourhoods and dynamic living context. In developing countries, this would require addressing root causes of their vulnerability such as lack of livelihood opportunities, loss of indigenous skills and capacities, loss of traditional ecological relationships and changes in social structure. Using prior baseline research and large group biennial meetings can bring current activities together to develop synergies, priorities and coherent action planning. Webinar 3: People s needs and expectations in postdisaster reconstruction Reconstruction of residential areas For urban planning to react to disaster risks, there needs to be better communication and developing the capacities for working together between systems for urban planning and systems for disaster risk management. In addition to tackling the existing legal, institutional, and professional constraints there is a need for a settled and sustainable culture of disaster risk reduction targeted to a greater spectrum of actors that interact with the planning process. This webinar outlined how reconstruction processes are not confined only to the construction of housing units but also to the development of an appropriate built environment in which public infrastructure, community services and income generation at the household level play a fundamental role. Webinar 2: Engaging multiple stakeholders in disaster risk reduction (DRR) for cities This webinar outlined a framework for disaster risk reduction in urban context that involves stakeholders from public agencies, academic/scientific institutions, civil society organisations, private sector, opinion leaders, and development and humanitarian organisations. Urban stakeholders at micro (household and individual), meso (organizational, community) and macro (policy) level all must engage in disaster risk reduction activities. This includes involvement in assessment & planning, physical and environmental protection, disaster response, and capacity development. Reconstruction of the commercial high street in Bam The people affected by the disaster need to be integrated in the decision-making process (both individually and collectively) during all the project phases (planning, financing, design, procurement, construction, adaptations, etc.), assuming a sustainable and participatory process that does not Page 3 of

4 exclusively depend on technical and political decisions. By prioritizing owner-driven strategies and strategies of incremental housing individual families can make decisions according to their own needs, expectations, priorities, resources, capacities, etc. Reconstruction process must be decentralized and facilitative for additional participation from the civil society and from affected families in active decisionmaking within their own individual projects of housing, economic production, industry, infrastructure, etc. Public policies are needed to work as a framework for active decision-making from affected families regarding their own individual solutions at the household level (projects of housing, economic production, industry, infrastructure, etc.). Enhanced leadership at the municipal level is crucial and to plan for long-term development. Universities and research groups can also facilitate the reconstruction process. management. It was also identified that ways of translating theory into practice must be explored, and any change in approach must be deepened and extended to other stakeholders too. Webinar Contributors WEBINAR 1: Enabling risk reduction through urban planning Dr Cassidy Johnson, University College London, UK - Planning regulations and its impacts on DRR in the formal and in formal city: reflections from five urban case studies Ms Susan Houston, New Zealand Planning Institute, New Zealand - Preliminary results of a survey on resilience planning across the Commonwealth Professor Murat Balamir, Middle East Technical University, Turkey - The challenges of coupling land use planning and disaster risk Dr Fatma El Mallah, League of Arab States on Climate Change, Egypt - Building the resilience of Arab cities: the challenges and the opportunities. WEBINAR 2: Engaging multiple stakeholders in DRR for cities Destruction of the Built Environment in Bam Webinar 4: Local Government Self Assessment Tool (LGSAT) The last webinar provided examples of cities on the practicalities of adapting tools and guidance for disaster risk reduction at municipality level. One year after the introduction of LGSAT, city managers and local governmental officials from a number of cities shared their experiences on taking forward initiatives based on the Ten Essentials for Making Cities Resilient, which are based on the Five Priorities of the Hyogo Framework for Action. Local government managers shared their experiences on how the LGSAT was used to the date. The specific risks for each city were discussed alongside the actions taken by the local government top reduce them, their achievements and challenges. It was highlighted that while the vision on disaster risk reduction is shared, many of the projects and programmes are still focused on preparedness and response to disaster emergencies, rather than a holistic and integrated aspect of risk reduction in all areas of urban Dr Lee Bosher, Loughborough University, England - Making cities resilient - A top down multi-stakeholder approach from the United Kingdom Dr Marla Petal, Save the Children, Australia - Disaster-resilient construction: involving decision-makers from the bottom-up Mr Daniel Homsey, City Of San Francisco, USA - The Empowered Communities Program - Building Stronger Neighborhoods, One Decision at a Time Professor Rohit Jigyasu, Research Center for Disaster Mitigation of Urban Cultural Heritage, Ritsumeikan University, Japan - Reducing risks to Urban Cultural Heritage through engagement of multiple stakeholders. WEBINAR 3: Necesidades y expectativas de los abitants en el proceso de reconstruccion (In Spanish) Profesor Gonzalo Lizarralde, Université de Montréal, Canada - Estrategias y alternativas basadas en las libertades individuales de los habitantes Professor Alfonso Solano, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Colombia - Regresando al habitat Original, Cupica, Choco, Colombia Mr Jaime Soto, Swiss Association Territoires Solidaires - Desde el Valle del Itata en Chile, aprendiendo a re-construirnos y construir resiliencia Page 4 of

5 Mr Luis Hernandez, Santa Tecla, El Salvador - Santa Tecla, El Salvador: un modelo participativo de la reconstrucion, transformando el desarrollo local. Photo's provided by Lee Bosher, Cassidy Johnson, David Alexander, Huraera Jabeen and Arifian Fatemeh. Sant Angelo dei Lombardi WEBINAR 4: Local Government Self-Assessment Tool Ms Andrea Valsagna, Municipality of Santa Fe - Argentina - Principal Disaster Risks in Santa Fe City Dr Ana Liz Flores, Municipality of Chacao - Venezuela - Citizen Culture for Risk Management Mr. Greg Pillay, Cape Town - South Africa - Local Government Self-Assessment Tool. More information The Webinars programme brochure, edited recordings of the Webinars and the stand-alone presentations are available as YouTube videos via the CIB website here Under the mandate, the aim of the TG63 is to a) bring together international perspectives and activities related to disaster risk reduction in the built environment from socio-technical and socio-economic perspectives, b) to develop context sensitive ways of incorporating disaster risk reduction principles, and measuring the impacts of such principles, in building, construction and reconstruction activities at community/local, regional and national levels and across a range of low-, middle- and high-income nations. For more information CIB TG63 activities please contact the Coordinators: Dr. Cassidy Johnson, cassidy.johnson@ucl.ac.uk or Dr. Lee Bosher, L.Bosher@lboro.ac.uk. You can find more information on the activities of CIB TG63 here. Page 5 of