TITLE:
Unplanned Urban Development: A Neglected Global Threat
AUTHORS:
Flavio Lopes Ribeiro
KEYWORDS:
Disasters, Development, Resilient Cities, Unplanned Urban Development, Hazards
JOURNAL NAME:
Current Urban Studies,
Vol.9 No.3,
August
18,
2021
ABSTRACT: Disasters
pose a major threat to cities’ development. Consequently, a lot of attention
has been put into increasing urban capacity to withstand, adapt and grow no matter what kind of catastrophic event
they go through. However, the majority
of international campaigns and local actions to reach these objectives,
focused exclusively in reducing vulnerabilities, have been proven insufficient
to avoid disasters. As argued in this paper,
this is because cities are not only vulnerable to disasters, but the epicenter of highly destructive global
threats, which are mostly neglected. By using the latest disaster science terminology to examine hazard creation in the
cities of Bangalore (India) and São Paulo (Brazil), it becomes clear that unplanned urban development can be considered
anthropic-hazard driver. This finding highlights the need for urban planners,
researchers and local governments to focus on reducing hazard-creation with the
same enthusiasm as they are trying to reduce vulnerabilities in urban settings.