Planning for Exclusion: The Politics of Urban Disaster Governance
Many disaster risk reduction (DRR) initiatives, including land use planning, tend to ignore existing long-term inequalities in urban space. Furthermore, scholars working on urban disaster governance do not adequately consider how day-to-day DRR governing practices can (re)produce these. Hence, follo...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Cogitatio
2020-12-01
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| Series: | Politics and Governance |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/3085 |
| _version_ | 1818001477858230272 |
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| author | Ricardo Fuentealba Hebe Verrest Joyeeta Gupta |
| author_facet | Ricardo Fuentealba Hebe Verrest Joyeeta Gupta |
| author_sort | Ricardo Fuentealba |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Many disaster risk reduction (DRR) initiatives, including land use planning, tend to ignore existing long-term inequalities in urban space. Furthermore, scholars working on urban disaster governance do not adequately consider how day-to-day DRR governing practices can (re)produce these. Hence, following a recent interest in the political dimensions of disaster governance, this article explores under what conditions the implementation of DRR land uses (re)produce spatial injustice on the ground. We develop a theoretical framework combining politics, disaster risk, and space, and apply it to a case study in Santiago, Chile. There, after a landslide disaster in the city’s foothills in 1993, a multi-level planning arrangement implemented a buffer zone along the bank of a ravine to protect this area from future disasters. This buffer zone, however, transformed a long-term established neighbourhood, splitting it into a formal and an informal area remaining to this day. Using qualitative data and spatial analysis, we describe the emergence, practices, and effects of this land use. While this spatial intervention has proactively protected the area, it has produced further urban exclusion and spatial deterioration, and reproduced disaster risks for the informal households within the buffer zone. We explain this as resulting from a governance arrangement that emerged from a depoliticised environment, enforcing rules unevenly, and lacking capacities and unclear responsibilities, all of which could render DRR initiatives to be both spatially unjust and ineffective. We conclude that sustainable and inclusive cities require paying more attention to the implementation practices of DRR initiatives and their relation to long-term inequities. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-14T03:33:53Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-77b4ff8601f2417b8b6e296d8c503e80 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2183-2463 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-14T03:33:53Z |
| publishDate | 2020-12-01 |
| publisher | Cogitatio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Politics and Governance |
| spelling | doaj.art-77b4ff8601f2417b8b6e296d8c503e802022-12-22T02:14:50ZengCogitatioPolitics and Governance2183-24632020-12-018424425510.17645/pag.v8i4.30851759Planning for Exclusion: The Politics of Urban Disaster GovernanceRicardo Fuentealba0Hebe Verrest1Joyeeta Gupta2Department of Human Geography, Planning and International Development, Amsterdam Institute for Social Science Research, University of Amsterdam, The NetherlandsDepartment of Human Geography, Planning and International Development, Amsterdam Institute for Social Science Research, University of Amsterdam, The NetherlandsDepartment of Human Geography, Planning and International Development, Amsterdam Institute for Social Science Research, University of Amsterdam, The NetherlandsMany disaster risk reduction (DRR) initiatives, including land use planning, tend to ignore existing long-term inequalities in urban space. Furthermore, scholars working on urban disaster governance do not adequately consider how day-to-day DRR governing practices can (re)produce these. Hence, following a recent interest in the political dimensions of disaster governance, this article explores under what conditions the implementation of DRR land uses (re)produce spatial injustice on the ground. We develop a theoretical framework combining politics, disaster risk, and space, and apply it to a case study in Santiago, Chile. There, after a landslide disaster in the city’s foothills in 1993, a multi-level planning arrangement implemented a buffer zone along the bank of a ravine to protect this area from future disasters. This buffer zone, however, transformed a long-term established neighbourhood, splitting it into a formal and an informal area remaining to this day. Using qualitative data and spatial analysis, we describe the emergence, practices, and effects of this land use. While this spatial intervention has proactively protected the area, it has produced further urban exclusion and spatial deterioration, and reproduced disaster risks for the informal households within the buffer zone. We explain this as resulting from a governance arrangement that emerged from a depoliticised environment, enforcing rules unevenly, and lacking capacities and unclear responsibilities, all of which could render DRR initiatives to be both spatially unjust and ineffective. We conclude that sustainable and inclusive cities require paying more attention to the implementation practices of DRR initiatives and their relation to long-term inequities.https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/3085chiledisaster risk reductionland use planningpost-disasterspatial injusticeurban disasterurban governance |
| spellingShingle | Ricardo Fuentealba Hebe Verrest Joyeeta Gupta Planning for Exclusion: The Politics of Urban Disaster Governance Politics and Governance chile disaster risk reduction land use planning post-disaster spatial injustice urban disaster urban governance |
| title | Planning for Exclusion: The Politics of Urban Disaster Governance |
| title_full | Planning for Exclusion: The Politics of Urban Disaster Governance |
| title_fullStr | Planning for Exclusion: The Politics of Urban Disaster Governance |
| title_full_unstemmed | Planning for Exclusion: The Politics of Urban Disaster Governance |
| title_short | Planning for Exclusion: The Politics of Urban Disaster Governance |
| title_sort | planning for exclusion the politics of urban disaster governance |
| topic | chile disaster risk reduction land use planning post-disaster spatial injustice urban disaster urban governance |
| url | https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/3085 |
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