Reducing Disaster Risks to Urban Cultural Heritage: Global Challenges and Opportunities

Abstract

Historic urban areas are becoming increasingly vulnerable to natural as well as man-made hazards such as earthquakes, floods, fires, cyclones and vandalism. In the absence of any comprehensive legal framework for protection, historic urban areas are vulnerable not only to impending disasters but also during emergency and post disaster recovery phases. The major underlying causes for their increasing vulnerability are population growth, urbanization and poverty, especially in developing countries. However these should not be seen merely as a passive victim of disaster. In the face of disasters, traditional communities in historic cities often develop a vocabulary of resilient features in the urban environment that intentionally or unintentionally contribute towards prevention and mitigation, emergency response and recovery. The article will describe these systems in detail through various examples. The article will further elaborate on the key challenges and priorities for disaster risk reduction of historic urban areas. The main goal is to reduce risks to the population and physical fabric in historic urban areas through use of sustainable conservation and development practices and raising awareness among all stakeholders including public agencies, civic society organizations, private sector as well as local communities. The article will further outline the agenda for action for risk reduction and highlight some of the recent national and international initiatives undertaken so far.