Thank you Ilan and all for your contributions on this.
Whilst I guess I'm guilty in part for bifurcating the conversation away from definitions to the critique of the 'disaster cycle' I have to admit that Ilan's provocation got me thinking. Accordingly, I followed one of his links, which led me to reach up for my copy of James Lewis' (1999) Development in Disaster Prone Places
From p.129 I reproduce the following:
"What the self-centric 'disaster cycle' did not acknowledge was that there were other sectors of activity continuing outside of the cycle. Not everything that happened, or that was undertaken, subscribed to this interpretation of natural disaster management, though it invariably did subscribe to the contexts for the impacts of natural disasters themselves. Development, or simply 'change' was also taking place - of its own inevitable volition or in a planned and programmed way. Where did 'development' appear in the 'disaster cycle'?
In fact there is not one 'cycle' but two; it is not a 'disaster cycle' but a 'disaster bicycle':
However, the bicycle does the dual system credit that it does not deserve; most bicycles have one rider [...] to do the steering. Whereas, the disaster cycle and development cycle were not, and still are not, driven by the same authorities.
Of over-riding concern is that the activities of this [bi]cycle of events are implemented by various sectors and are rarely co-ordinated or objectively interrelated. [...] Most crucially, disaster management has become separated from the development of everyday affairs that create vulnerability.
As a result, the activities of one sector may not necessarily subscribe to disaster or vulnerability reduction, which has been made the responsibility of another sector; and by ignorance of processes that subscribe to vulnerability, may actually be making things worse. Vulnerability has frequently been made, or made worse, by 'development'. [please excuse minor shortening and emphasis added]
Given that this conversation started with a call to understand the influence of 'change' I can't help but think, on reading James' book, that the straight replacement of his word 'development' with either 'growth' or 'efficiency seeking' allows me to pull this conceptualisation straight into the current 'austerity' context.
Undoubtedly, that's not going to be much of a ground-breaking revelation for some here, but for me it's provided another extremely useful perspective
BW
Hugh
From: Disaster Resilience [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Ilan Kelman
Sent: 06 February 2012 20:15
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: UNISDR definition of Resilience - a query
Thanks to everyone for their contributions and for the continuing discussion.
The disaster cycle has been thoroughly critiqued with many authors offering alternatives. See extensive discussion through the Radix email messages from November 2007 at http://www.ecie.org/pipermail/radix/2007-November/ Since then, I have compiled several other references which explain why the disaster cycle should not be used and which provide alternatives.
As well, the ENSURE document seems to highlight a few citations on vulnerability and resilience which I have heavily critiqued http://www.islandvulnerability.org/docs/vulnrescritique.pdf Thus, it falls victim to the same problems as those citations in terms of leaving out key authors who founded the field and who had already provided significant and deep insights into vulnerability and resilience long before those citations were published (e.g. Ben Wisner, James Lewis, and Ken Hewitt amongst many others listed in my critique).
As always, comments and further critiques are welcome. Thank you to everyone for being involved.
Ilan
> Date: Mon, 6 Feb 2012 15:37:37 +0100
> From: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: [DISASTER-RESILIENCE] UNISDR definition of Resilience - a query
> To: [log in to unmask]
>
> Dear Hugh and list,
>
> a contribution to the discussion could come from the European Project
> ENSURE ("Enhancing Resilience of Communities and Territories facing natural
> and na-tech hazards" (7FP) http://www.ensureproject.eu/), in which the
> resilience concept has been largely investigated as well as the
> relationships between resilience and vulnerability.
>
> In detail, a large effort has been devoted to the setting up of a conceptual
> model of resilience, enabling us to identify the main features/capacities
> making a system resilient in face of adverse events and to a better
> understanding of common properties and differences between the two concepts
> under investigation: resilience and vulnerability.
>
> Looking at the results of the Ensure project, it is possible to state that:
> "Even though the idea that vulnerability and resilience are two sides of the
> same coin (flip-side approach) is currently the most widespread one, the
> in-depth analysis of resilience and the identification of its dimensions has
> lead the authors to conclude that resilience concept, in its different
> aspects, is wider than the one of vulnerability in that resilience includes
> the opportunity for change and transformation after a hazardous event, that
> goes far beyond the vulnerability concept. Therefore, elements and systems
> may be vulnerable to a given event and, in the meanwhile, they can be
> resilient in that they can turn disasters into opportunities for future
> developments".
>
> a more detailed discussion on the topic is in the paper attached.
>
> arch. Adriana Galderisi
> Dipartimento di Pianificazione e Scienza del Territorio
> Facoltà di Ingegneria
> Università degli Studi di Napoli "Federico II"
>
> P.le V. Tecchio, 80
> 80125 Napoli
>
> tel. +39 081 7682314
> fax.+39 081 7682309
> cell. +39 328 7157557
> e-mail: [log in to unmask]
> web site: http://www.dipist.unina.it
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You have been sent this email because you are a registered member of the Disaster Resilience mailing list:
This is a 'lightly' moderated list.
If you wish to send a message to the list 'reply' or post to: [log in to unmask]
If you wish to subscribe to or unsubscribe from this list go to: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/disaster-resilience and follow the subscribe/unsubscribe instructions
For more options, visit this group at: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/disaster-resilience
- The Disaster Resilience list aims to develop knowledge and understanding of the complex term, resilience; and to identify the key dimensions of resilience across a range of disciplines and domains. - The creation of this list is linked to the FP7 project, emBRACE: Building Resilience Amongst Communities in Europe www.embrace-eu.org - emBRACE is jointly co-ordinated by Prof Debby Sapir (Universite Catholique De Louvain) and Dr Maureen Fordham (Northumbria University) - This DISASTER-RESILIENCE discussion list was launched on 13 October 2011, International Day for Disaster Reduction http://www.unisdr.org/2011/iddr/. The List is managed by Maureen Fordham, John Twigg and Hugh Deeming - The emBRACE project has received funding from the European Community's Seventh Framework Programme FP7/2007-2013 under grant agreement n° 283201. The European Community is not liable for any use that may be made of the information shared on this list.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You have been sent this email because you are a registered member of the Disaster Resilience mailing list:
This is a 'lightly' moderated list.
If you wish to send a message to the list 'reply' or post to: [log in to unmask]
If you wish to subscribe to or unsubscribe from this list go to: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/disaster-resilience and follow the subscribe/unsubscribe instructions
For more options, visit this group at: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/disaster-resilience
- The Disaster Resilience list aims to develop knowledge and understanding of the complex term, resilience; and to identify the key dimensions of resilience across a range of disciplines and domains.
- The creation of this list is linked to the FP7 project, emBRACE: Building Resilience Amongst Communities in Europe www.embrace-eu.org
- emBRACE is jointly co-ordinated by Prof Debby Sapir (Universite Catholique De Louvain) and Dr Maureen Fordham (Northumbria University)
- This DISASTER-RESILIENCE discussion list was launched on 13 October 2011, International Day for Disaster Reduction http://www.unisdr.org/2011/iddr/.
The List is managed by Maureen Fordham, John Twigg and Hugh Deeming
- The emBRACE project has received funding from the European Community‘s Seventh Framework Programme FP7/2007-2013 under grant agreement n° 283201. The European Community is not liable for any use that may be made of the
information shared on this list.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
