The Vulnerability of Cities: Natural Disasters and Social Resilience

List of Figures, Tables and Boxes vii List of Acronyms andAbbreviations ix SECTION I: CITIES AND ENVIRONMENTAL RISK 1 Tracing the Roots of Urban Risk and Vulnerability 3 Introduction 3 Sustainable Development, Disaster and the City 5 Environmental Hazard and the City 13 Outline of the Book 17 2 Cities as Sites for Disaster 19 Introduction 19 Urban Growth and Disaster Exposure 20 Disaster Impacts 38 Summary 44 3 Social Vulnerability in the City 46 Introduction 46 A History of Human Vulnerability and Environmental Hazard 47 Livelihoods and Vulnerability 55 Social Adaptation and Ameliorating Vulnerability 61 Case Studies of Livelihood and Vulnerability in Georgetown, Guyana 65 Summary 67 4 Urban Governance and Disaster 68 Introduction 68 Political Actors 70 Summary 90 SECTION II: THE CASE STUDIES Case Study Selection 93 5 Maintaining Civil Society in a Liberal Democracy: Bridgetown, Barbados 97 Introduction 97 Democracy from Above: The Barbadian Path to Development 98 Social Vulnerability Amid Economic Development 101 Environmental Hazard 103 Disaster Mitigation and Response Capacity 104 The Pine Community 109 Summary 115 6 Post-socialism and Barriers to Building a Civil Society: Georgetown, Guyana 118 Introduction 118 A Legacy of Mistrust: Guyana's Development History 119 Urban Poverty and Hazard 121 Urban Development and Governance 123 Disaster Mitigation and Response Capacity 129 Albouystown 131 Summary 137 7 Patrimonial Regimes and the Maintenance of a Constructive Civil Society: Santo Domingo, The Dominican Republic 139 Introduction 139 Authoritarian Rule in the Dominican Republic 140 Environmental Hazard 141 Urban Governance and Adaptive Potential 142 Disaster Management Capacity 148 Los Manguitos 154 Summary 159 SECTION III: TOWARDS SAFER CITIES 8 Action for Safer Cities 163 The Social Roots of Urban Vulnerability and Resilience 163 Urbanization, Environmental Change and Hazard 166 A Structural View: Institutional Frameworks and Adaptive Potential 168 Citizen Agency and Adaptive Potential 174 Opportunities and Barriers to Building Adaptive Potential 178 Urban Environmental Risk: A New Research Agenda for Policy Reform 180 Appendkx 185 Referenaes 188 Index 205.