Constructing Risk: Disaster, Development, and the Built Environment

Reviewing current policies and practices, the book assesses the financial, economic and physical risk of building in hazardous areas, and looks at how societies approach economic development while trying to create a more resilient built environment in spite of the dangers. It examines the vulnerability of economic and social infrastructure to natural hazard events, looks at policies which imperil infrastructure, and proposes new development approaches to be undertaken by sovereign states, international development banks, NGOs, and bilateral aid agencies.

Stephen O. Bender is an architect and retired staff member of the Department of Sustainable Development of the Organization of American States in Washington D.C. He has acted as a consultant to various international development entities working in Latin America, the Caribbean, and Asia.