Review of The Vulnerability of Cities: Natural Disasters and Social Resilience by Mark Pelling

Abstract

This book focuses on the vulnerability of cities to environmental catastrophes in the developing world. It builds on the work of Mitchell ~1996! on community response to industrial disasters and Mitlin and Thompson’s ~1995! monograph on participatory approaches in urban areas. The book is divided into three sections. In the first section, the author provides a perceptive introduction of hazards, disasters, risk, and vulnerability. He embraces a multidisciplinary, case study approach to illustrate that rapid population growth and associated urban sprawl are not the only factors that contribute to environmental degradation and associated disasters. By examining several case studies of disasters in the developing world, he deduces that the central theme to human vulnerability is sociopolitical, financial, and the physical structure of the society. The book presents an in-depth analysis of Manila, Bogota, and Bangkok to show that the implementation of piecemeal planning in response to rapid urban sprawl has contributed to the construction of substandard buildings and infrastructures in highly hazardprone zones. In another example, the case of Tanza in Zambia is used to document the role of legislation in increasing the vulnerability of widowed female households. Pelling makes a strong argument for the importance of incorporating an assessment of political context and governance to understand the influence of legislation in creating conditions of risk. Financial instability of local and national governments has been a major setback in dealing with disasters. At both local and national levels, lack of resources has enabled people with power and wealth to have an undue influence in the decision-making process about distribution of resources and management of environmental risk. Such opportunistic behavior not only tends to undermine partnerships among local communities at risk, but can also restrict the establishment of community-level organizations, such as nongovernmental and other private-sector institutions that might otherwise work at the grassroots level to enhance social resilience of communities at risk. In the second section, Pelling uses five key issues to study national politics: length of democratic rule, postcolonial regime, urban scale, extent of urban poverty and dependency, and the city ~p. 93!. He analyzes the adaptive potential of public mobilization and action to reduce vulnerability in three cities with contrasting political structures and developmental settings: Bridgetown, Barbados ~a liberal democracy!; Georgetown, Guyana ~a postsocialist state!; and Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic ~an authoritarian state in democratic transition!. Through these studies, he demonstrates that the new political structures in postcolonial countries have contributed to a failure to address the issue of environmental degradation and disaster risk. The reason for their failure is not only lack of financial resources and severe population growth but also lack of community participation in policy formulation. For example, in Guyana and Santo Domingo, many local organizations with a concern for risk were under pressure due to lack of support from government and a lack of social and human capital to generate funding from NGOs or because of limited popular support and engagement. In the final section of the book, he suggests three major changes that should be considered to enhance social resilience to disasters: ~1! both formal and informal organizations should be acknowledged by national and international agencies; ~2! in communities where CBOs are present, these local organizations should work in congruity with formal organizations to reduce vulnerability; ~3! community-level action should be supported and recognized within the political/institutional structure as a means to increase community participation in decision making. Population growth and urban sprawl are central preconditions to disasters. It is thus essential to understand the social, political, and financial status of communities in dealing with disaster impacts. This is the central theme of this book. Although it does not consider technical aspects of emergency management and mitigation, the social elements that enable certain communities to withstand disaster impact more efficiently are applicable to a wide range of risk reduction contexts, including those from industry and technology. The book is therefore of interest to researchers, policy makers, planners, emergency managers, and citizens involved in formulating policy guidelines for community participation and awareness and the development of emergency management and mitigation plans.