Urban Social Vulnerability Research Articles

Mapping the vulnerable: A framework for analyzing urban social vulnerability and its societal impact

Widespread high exposure and vulnerability, coupled with inadequate adaptive capacity, underscore the urgent need for targeted interventions and policies to enhance urban resilience. This research communication presents a robust framework for assessing urban social vulnerability (USoV) and associated risk assessment criteria, and underscores its policy implications. Our framework integrates exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity dimensions to construct the USoVI. Applied to 146 urban centers in West Bengal, utilizing diverse indicators and advanced GIS mapping, the framework reveals elevated vulnerability levels and socio-economic disparities. Better understanding of vulnerabilities and guidance in addressing them is imperative so that effective and context-specific interventions to enhance urban resilience and alleviate vulnerability can be developed. The framework presented herein is a tool for evidence-based decision-making, empowering policymakers to craft tailored strategies that address the distinct challenges – the exposure and associated sensitivity factors - faced by diverse urban populations. By providing insights into the spatial manifestation of vulnerability and its far-reaching societal implications, we aim to contribute to the creation of inclusive, secure, and sustainable urban development. This method enhances our comprehension of vulnerability, providing urban planners with essential knowledge to tackle the intricate aspects of social vulnerability in dynamic urban settings.

An Index-Based Approach to Assess Social Vulnerability for Hamburg, Germany

AbstractIn this study, we set out to develop a new social vulnerability index (SVI). In doing so, we suggest some conceptual improvements that can be made to existing methodical approaches to assessing social vulnerability. To make the entanglement of socio-spatial inequalities visible, we are conducting a small-scale study on heterogeneous urban development in the city of Hamburg, Germany. This kind of high-resolution analysis was not previously available, but is increasingly requested by political decision makers. We can thus show hot spots of social vulnerability (SV) in Hamburg, considering the effects of social welfare, education, and age. In doing so, we defined SV as a contextual concept that follows the recent shift in discourse in line with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) concepts of risk and vulnerability. Our SVI consists of two subcomponents: sensitivity and coping capacity. Populated areas of Hamburg were identified using satellite information and merged with the social data units of the city. Areas with high SVI are distributed over the entire city, notably in the district of Harburg and the Reiherstieg quarter in Wilhelmsburg near the Elbe, as well as in the densely populated inner city areas of Eimsbüttel and St. Pauli. As a map at a detailed scale, our SVI can be a useful tool to identify areas where the population is most vulnerable to climate-related hazards. We conclude that an enhanced understanding of urban social vulnerability is a prerequisite for urban risk management and urban resilience planning.

Multiscale GIS based-model to assess urban social vulnerability and associated risk: Evidence from 146 urban centers of Eastern India

Social vulnerability in this study is expressed by highlighting the different forms of social deprivation experienced by the urban inhabitants. This article proposes a fundamental approach to quantify social vulnerability and associated risk in urban areas. Here, urban social vulnerability (USoV) consists of three interconnected dimensions, i.e. exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity. Based on these three dimensions’ the urban social vulnerability index (USoVI) was computed using 15 indicators. Therefore, using the GIS environment, a composite measure is applied to identify and map the spatial heterogeneity of USoV for the 146 urban centres in Eastern India. The results highlight that most urban locations experience moderate to high exposure, sensitivity and low adaptive capacity corresponding to high USoV. Moran's I result indicates that the adaptive capacity shows the largest spatial association, while sensitivity indicates the lowest Moran value with the least association. Also, the spatial distribution pattern of USoVI across the urban centres is assessed by using the Univariate LISA techniques. The multiscale geographically weighted regression (MGWR) model estimates 67.4% variance of the constructed model. The study findings assist policymakers and urban stakeholders in devising an effective, participatory, and geographically targeted plan for coping with potential bottlenecks experienced by urban residents.

An Integrated PCA–AHP Method to Assess Urban Social Vulnerability to Sea Level Rise Risks in Tampa, Florida

Coastal flooding risks are increasing with the rise of sea level due to global climate change. Such risk presents different groups of residents with diverse vulnerability. Using a coastal city as the study area, this study quantitatively and qualitatively examines social vulnerability across different communities at risk of sea level rising. This study develops a novel social vulnerability assessment method that integrates principal component analysis (PCA) and analytical hierarchical process (AHP), inputting the advantages of each into factor analysis for social vulnerability quantification. Twenty-four socioeconomic factors are first grouped into four different themes. PCA is then performed to identify major components within each theme. We apply AHP to generate the weighting scheme for each theme. Therefore, the AHP-derived weights to those PCA components according to each theme are used to obtain an overall social vulnerability index. The thematic map of PCA–AHP SVI showed that minority communities with low income, mobile home, and unemployed populations aggregated in the East Tampa shore (over 69% of the total minority), compared with the West Tampa (31% of the total minority). Our findings provide insightful spatial information of the social vulnerability index (SVI) that allows decision makers to make optimal efforts to mitigate damages and unexpected impacts on different communities, especially those marginalized minorities due to sea level rising risks.

GIS based urban social vulnerability assessment for liquefaction susceptible areas: a case study for greater Chennai, India

BackgroundThe areas prone to geological hazards such as liquefaction need special attention with respect to social vulnerability. Though liquefaction by itself may not result in damage, it may trigger a series of ground failures such as ground oscillation, lateral spread, loss of bearing strength, etc., which cause heavy damage. Globally, during the past few decades liquefaction hazard analysis has become one of the important criteria in seismic risk analysis and mitigation management, especially for urban areas. Greater Chennai is one of the million-plus population cities in India. The city also felt earthquakes/tremors in the past history.MethodThe present study aims to assess the social vulnerability of the population density of the Greater Chennai area due to liquefaction susceptibility using GIS technology. The liquefaction susceptibility map (hazard) for the Greater Chennai was prepared by integration of geological and geomorphological parameters and analyzed over socioeconomic parameters (exposure) using an integration of GIS and AHP.ResultsThe result showed that around 53% of Greater Chennai’s households and population are very much exposed to liquefaction hazard.ConclusionsThis study can be used as a base level study for decision-making during land use planning as well as disaster mitigation planning.

Better together? The role of social capital in urban social vulnerability

This study examines why some communities are more vulnerable than others, focusing on the transformative effect of residents' social capital on changing levels of vulnerability over time. We examine the case of Japan, the third largest economy in the world. Japan faces dozens of earthquakes, floods, and typhoons each year, but some communities are more socially vulnerable in the face of disaster than others. Drawing on difference-in-differences models and matching experiments, we test the effect of bonding, bridging, and linking social capital on vulnerability. We find that controlling for cities’ governance capacity, resource demand based on population, and damage from recent hazards, higher levels of bonding social capital in a community leads to lower levels of vulnerability. However, other types of social capital do not immediately lead to lower vulnerability, implying that greater government support is necessary in these cases.

Better Together? The role of Social Capital in Urban Social Vulnerability

Better Together? The role of Social Capital in Urban Social Vulnerability

Assessment of Urban Social Vulnerability Under the Background of Climate Change and Urbanization: Taking Wuhan as an Example

Assessment of Urban Social Vulnerability Under the Background of Climate Change and Urbanization: Taking Wuhan as an Example

Do urban planning and sprawl affect social vulnerability? An assessment of Dar es Salaam

ABSTRACT This study explores connections between urban planning, sprawl, and social vulnerability factors in the Sub-Saharan context with the aim to investigate the influence of broader planning and land use aspects in quantitative urban social vulnerability assessment. Dar es Salaam, Tanzania serves as the study area because of its substantial informal development, sprawling, and availability of reliable datasets for recent years. Two main research questions are proposed: does urban planning reduce social vulnerability (measured by quality of life and mobility) and does urban sprawl contribute to social vulnerability in this city? Results indicate formally planned urban areas are associated with higher levels of quality of life and mobility. Further results indicate no significant impact of sprawl on social vulnerability factors of residents in the general urban areas of Dar es Salaam, however, informal sprawl is linked to higher social vulnerability.

Urban social vulnerability and climate change in Rio de Janeiro city associated with population mobility

ABSTRACTThis article intends to verify how climate change vulnerability and population mobility are related and how they are spatially distributed in the city of Rio de Janeiro. Rio de Janeiro is among the Brazilian metropoles covering the largest urban agglomerations and containing the most vulnerable areas to the effects of climate change. In addition, the city also has one of the worst indicators for daily intra-urban travel in Brazil. Mobility and vulnerability are related through processes inherent to the formation of the occupation of urban space, such as property speculation, the evolution of the means of transport, and access to urban functions. Using Factorial Analysis and geoprocessing techniques, a Climate Change Vulnerability Index was created and spatialized with socio-economic, environmental, infrastructure, and transport dimensions. It was found that the historical processes which induced socio-spatial segregation are still reflected in the present day, through levels of population vulnerability. Among the research results is the need for the integration of urban policies and adaptive measures, principally in relation to housing and transport policies, which, in addition to be advantageous, are shown to be extremely important to increase the local adaptation capacity of the urban population to climate change.

A hierarchical pattern of urban social vulnerability in Shanghai, China and its implications for risk management

Social vulnerability helps to identify the population groups who may disproportionally suffer from natural hazards. The social vulnerability index (SoVI) has equipped extensive efforts to assess social vulnerability over the past two decades. However, only a few studies have paid attention to the intra-city level social vulnerability, and knowledge gaps still exist in understanding the spatial patterns of urban social vulnerability. This paper presents a hierarchical pattern of urban social vulnerability by a SoVI assessment of the 5432 neighborhoods (residential committee, or juwei in Chinese) in Shanghai metropolitan, China. High SoVI occupies the city center; to its outside is a low SoVI belt, which is surrounded by medium–high SoVI in the vast suburbs and low SoVI appears in the local centers of the suburbs. This hierarchical pattern is highly significant for enhancing the understanding of urban social vulnerability. It can also facilitate urban risk management and enhance urban sustainability by identifying socially vulnerable communities and the vulnerable combination of social vulnerability and natural hazards. In this paper, an integration of the SoVI result and a flood scenario reveals vulnerable areas that should be high priorities on the agendas for mitigating flood hazards and social vulnerability.

Adolescent health promotion based on community-centered arts education.

To evaluate the contribution of arts education to health promotion of adolescents in situations of urban social vulnerability. Participatory evaluative research, with a qualitative approach, using as a reference the theoretical constructs of Paulo Freire's Conscientization and the Empowerment Evaluation as a method of collecting with adolescents and teachers of an arts education program in the field of the Family Health Strategy. Participants constructed a collective mission that represented the concept of adolescent health promotion. Arts education activities were prioritized and ranked with a mission focus, and over a three-month period, the program implemented health goals through art. In the reevaluation, the group presented a broad look at the implementation of activities and self-determination for change. Arts education is a potential space for nurses to act in the conscientization and empowerment of adolescent health in Primary Health Care.

A New Framework for Understanding Urban Social Vulnerability from a Network Perspective

Rapid urbanization in China has strengthened the connection and cooperation among cities and has also led urban residents to be more vulnerable in adverse environmental conditions. Vulnerability research has been an important foundation in urban risk management. To make cities safe and resilient, it is also necessary to integrate the connection among cities into a vulnerability assessment. Therefore, this paper proposed a new conceptual framework for urban social vulnerability assessment based on network theory, where a new dimension of social vulnerability (connectivity) was added into the framework. Using attribute data, the traditional social vulnerability index of a city (SVInode) was calculated via the projection pursuit cluster (PPC) model. With the relational data retrieved from the Baidu search index, a new dimension (connectivity) of social vulnerability (SVIconnectivity) was evaluated. Finally, an integrated social vulnerability index (SVIurban) was measured combined with SVInode and SVIconnectivity. This method was applied in the Yangtze River Delta region of China, where the top three high values of SVInode belonged to the cities of Taizhou (Z), Jiaxing, and Huzhou. The three lowest cities were Hangzhou, Nanjing, and Shanghai. For SVIurban, the social vulnerability of cities in different hierarchies behaved differently. For Hierarchies 2 and 3, when compared to SVInode, the SVIurban was significantly reduced. However, the variation between SVInode and SVIurban in Hierarchy 4 was slight. Furthermore, an increase for the city of Taizhou (J) in its social vulnerability was achieved after connecting to the network. Huzhou, in Hierarchy 5, increased its social vulnerability the most when adding connectivity in the social vulnerability assessment. Based on the results of our case study, a conclusion was drawn that network connectivity had an influence on social vulnerability. However, when connectivity was strong enough, it could help cities to mitigate their traditional social vulnerability, whereas a loose connection in the network aggregated their traditional social vulnerability. Hence, the latter should be emphasized in future urban risk management.

Urban social vulnerability assessment with physical proxies and spatial metrics derived from air- and spaceborne imagery and GIS data

Risk management in urban planning is of increasing importance to mitigate the growing amount of damage and the increasing number of casualties caused by natural disasters. Risk assessment to support management requires knowledge about present and future hazards, elements at risk and different types of vulnerability. This article deals with the assessment of social vulnerability (SV). In the past this has frequently been neglected due to lack of data and assessment difficulties. Existing approaches for SV assessment, primarily based on community-based methods or on census data, have limited efficiency and transferability. In this article a new method based on contextual analysis of image and GIS data is presented. An approach based on proxy variables that were derived from high-resolution optical and laser scanning data was applied, in combination with elevation information and existing hazard data. Object-oriented image analysis was applied for the definition and estimation of those variables, focusing on SV indicators with physical characteristics. A reference Social Vulnerability Index (SVI) was created from census data available for the study area on a neighbourhood level and tested for parts of Tegucigalpa, Honduras. For the evaluation of the proxy-variables, a stepwise regression model to select the best explanatory variables for changes in the SVI was applied. Eight out of 47 variables explained almost 60% of the variance, whereby the slope position and the proportion of built-up area in a neighbourhood were found to be the most valuable proxies. This work shows that contextual segmentation-based analysis of geospatial data can substantially aid in SV assessment and, when combined with field-based information, leads to optimization in terms of assessment frequency and cost.