Economic and Planning Approaches to Natural Disasters

Bibliographic Data

ID23625601
AuthorsYasuhide Okuyama (0000-0003-1602-996X, The University of Kitakyushu), Stephanie E Chang (0000-0001-9383-7464, University of British Columbia)
Year2012
Pages394-418
Publication date2012-09-18
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeCHAPTER
VenueThe Oxford handbook of urban economics and planning (SOURCE_BOOK)
PublisherOxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1093/oxfordhb/9780195380620.013.0018
OpenAlexW1848153100
ISBN9780195380620
LanguageEN
References cited24

This article addresses the persistent problem of natural disasters and considers how economic analysis and planning can contribute toward disaster risk reduction. Giving examples of hurricane Katrina, and the Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami, it provides an overview of the natural disasters problem and social science research in the area, giving global trends and disaster trends since the last century. It then introduces economic approaches to the disasters problem followed by planning approaches. Urbanization agglomerates social functions (both public and private sectors), as well as physical and human capital, in particular areas. If a severe natural hazard hits one of these areas, it could lead to a catastrophic disaster with extremely sizable economic damages. While this discussion focuses on the developed country context, a synopsis of related work in the developing country context is also provided in detail. Finally, the article identifies research gaps and argues for greater integration across planning and economic perspectives.

Context (archaeology) · Damages · Disaster research · Economic growth · Economics · Emergency management · Environmental planning · Geography · Hazard · Natural disaster · Natural hazard · Political science · Urbanization · Vulnerability (computing) · Work (physics) · Computer Science · Disaster Management and Resilience · Engineering · Flood Risk Assessment and Management · Infrastructure Resilience and Vulnerability Analysis