ReliefWeb

Cities are at risk. And there is no way we can get away from this fact without sustained efforts. We live in an era of historically unprecedented urbanization. With the influx of large swathes of people to cities, the carrying capacity of a lot of urban systems often gets exceeded. This pushes a greater number of people under the column of vulnerability, giving rise to newer risks and exacerbating the existing ones.

Thus, it is imperative for the post-2015 framework for disaster risk reduction or the HFA2 to provide mechanisms which address the exigencies of urban risks. This issue of Southasiadisasters.net focuses on the important theme of 'Managing Urban Risks in HFA2'. It highlights policy discourses and institutional mechanisms such as frameworks for city resilience and rapid vulnerability profiling that will help manage urban risk.

The important themes focused upon in this issue range from addressing risk in informal settlements to the challenges of urban resilience in South Asia; and from the need for climate resilient urban development to the role of governments in engendering urban resilience and sustainability. Insightful and incisive, this issue of Southasiadisasters.net is aims to emphasize sustainable solutions to the challenges of urban risk through a robust HFA2.

The 120th issue of Southasiadisasters.net is titled ‘Managing Urban Risks in HFA2’ content includes:

(i) Loss and Damage: Beyond Numbers; (ii) Addressing Risk in Urban Informal Settlements; (iii) Loss and Damage in Urban Areas: Some Challenges in South Asia; (iv) Installing Urban Resilience to Hydro-Climatic Risks; (v) The Jigsaw Puzzle of Recovery in Disaster Management; (vi) Pathways to Urban Resilience: Information, Communication and a New Community of Practice; (vii) Urbanisation and its Impact on Ground Water; (viii) A Framework for Rapid Vulnerability Profiling to Build Climate Resilient Urban Development; (ix) A Lens to Recognise Urban Resilience: The City Resilience Framework; (x) An Urban Resilience Agenda for India; xi) Urban Uncertainty in India and Climate Change; (xii) Urban Resilience and Youth; (xiii) Sustainable Urban Development and the Role of the Government; (xiv) AIDMI: Addressing Risk in Indian Cities

The contributions from Mihir R. Bhatt with AIDMI Team; Aditya V. Bahadur, Overseas Development Institute (ODI), UK; Dr. Alankar, Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS), Delhi; Dr. Anil Gupta, NIDM, New Delhi; Dr. Budhen Kumar Saikia, Morigaon College, Assam; Diane Archer, International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), UK; Hina Lotia, LEAD Pakistan; Dr. Jyoti K. Parikh, and Miss Geeta Sandal, Integrated Research and Action for Development (IRADe), New Delhi; Mansoor Raza, Church World Service (CWS), Pakistan/Afghanistan; Mark Harvey, Communicating with Disaster Affected Communities (CDAC) Network, UK; Sachin Bhoite, Jo da Silva, and Braulio Eduardo Morera, ARUP, UK; Stephanie Andrei, International Centre for Climate Change and Development (ICCCD), Bangladesh; and Swati Bhattacharya, Hult International Business School, USA.

Themes: Urban Risk, Loss and Damage, Urban Resilience, Disaster management, Risk Resilience, Governance, HFA2