Disaster Mitigation by Spatial Planning

Abstract

The core element of spatial planning is to prepare and make decisions about future land use. Thus, disaster risks have to be taken into consideration when deciding about the usability of a plot of land. In doing so, planning is able to mitigate risk by e.g. keeping hazard threatened areas free of further development and taking care for the protection of buildings which are exposed to hazards. However, the planning cultures among Europe differ considerably. Thus, the different systems are characterised according to their main functions in order to indicate their effectiveness for disaster risk mitigation. Moreover, the role of spatial planning within disaster risk assessment and management is discussed in detail. The importance of already built-up areas is expressed, because preventive measures taken by spatial planning must fail. Here, more discourse-based approaches are needed due to the given private property rights. Further on, different options for mitigating risk by spatial planning are explained. The role of spatial planning in practise is highlighted by the example of the municipality of Barcelonette, (France).