Urban Disaster Resilience

Accelerating urbanization worldwide means more urban-centered disasters. Floods, earthquakes, storms and conflicts affecting densely populated areas produce significant losses in lives, livelihoods and the built environment, especially in comparison to rural areas. Poor urban dwellers, almost always the most vulnerable, too often bear the brunt. Aid agencies and urban professionals have been slowly adapting to these new conditions, but older models and practices hinder the most effective engagements.

Drawing directly from the experiences of urban disasters in the Philippines, Chile, India, Thailand, Iraq, Haiti and Nepal, among other countries, Urban Disaster Resilience brings to light new collaborations and techniques for addressing the challenges of urban disasters in the coming years. Chapters range from country-specific case studies to more synthetic frameworks in order to promote innovative thinking and practical solutions.

Edited by David Sanderson, Jerold S. Kayden and Julia Leis, this book is a crucial read for humanitarian and disaster specialists, urban planners and designers, architects, landscape architects, housing and economic development professionals, real estate developers, private business managers and students interested in the subject, whether based in non-governmental organizations, local, state or national governments, international agencies, private firms, or the academy.

David Sanderson is the Inaugural Judith Neilson Chair of Architecture at the University of New South Wales (UNSW), Australia. He has held senior posts in both NGO and academic sectors, and has carried out work for a number of NGOs and donor organizations. In recent years he has led post-disaster reviews in Haiti, Pakistan, Bangladesh, India, the Philippines and Nepal.

Jerold S. Kayden is the Frank Backus Williams Professor of Urban Planning and Design at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design. He has consulted for the World Bank, USAID and UNDP, worldwide, and served as principal investigator of the Harvard-Netherlands Project on Climate Change, Water, Land Development, and Adaptation. He is an affiliated faculty member of the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative (HHI).

Julia Leis is a humanitarian relief and development worker. She has completed assignments in the Philippines, Gaza, Burkina Faso and Thailand. She holds a Master of Arts from The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and a degree in Foreign Service from Georgetown University.