ABSTRACT
The aim of this book has been to present an examination of the influence of contrasting institutional/political relationships on the (re)production of human vulnerability to environmental hazard in cities. This was prompted by a gap in the theory and practice of vulnerability mitigation, which tends to engage principally with rural contexts, despite urbanization being increasingly linked to human losses caused by catastrophic and everyday environmental hazard. A clear theme within theoretical and practical work on environmental risk in rural areas is the inter-relatedness of livelihood assets with vulnerability. Livelihood instability can exacerbate vulnerability just as the hazard impacts experienced by vulnerable populations are likely to undermine livelihoods. A focus on livelihoods has broadened the scope of disaster mitigation policy to include questions of social structure and social agency. Social structures are important – the labour market, market access for locally produced goods, access to skills, training and credit and political organization all play a part in shaping livelihood opportunities. Other structures such as the application and monitoring of land-use planning and building codes and the organizational capacity of local government and emergency services to anticipate and respond to catastrophic disaster will contribute directly to shaping urban vulnerability to environmental risk.
