The use of public open spaces to enhance the coastal urban cities' resilience to tsunamis

Tsunami is a rapid-onset natural hazard that can be considered as one of the extremely destructive hazards. Depending on the location of the origin of Tsunami, there can be limited time available to evacuate people to safe places and to make appropriate response decisions in timely manner. Therefore, it is imperative to increase the inherent capacity of a city to respond this type of a natural hazard. Planning and designing spatial elements are one of the directives to increase the inherent capacity of a city to resist, absorb, accommodate and recover from the effects of a Tsunami. Accordingly, this research paper emphasizes the importance of public open spaces as one of the key spatial elements of a city which can be used as a strategy to enhance the coastal urban cities’ resilience to Tsunamis, as an agent of recovery, as a mode to provide essential life support, as a primary place to rescue, shelters and potential for adaptive response. Moreover, this ongoing research study analyses the current literature on use of public open spaces for Tsunami resilience and also the current problems and issues associated with it. Finally, the analysis suggests set of recommendations to enhance the use of public open spaces to increase the coastal urban cities’ resilience to Tsunamis

Planning and designing public open spaces as a strategy for disaster resilient cities: a review of literature

Public open spaces are often used as a mode to make cities sustainable from all its three counts; economic, environmental and social. Most of contemporary urban planners, designers, and landscape architects use the public open spaces as a mode to increase the urban quality of life, improve aesthetic attractiveness, improve the environmental health, growth of economy, and to increase the walkability, liveability and vitality of a city which direct towards the sustainability. However, sustainable development should also encompass the enhancements of disaster resilience. Yet, the use of public open spaces as a strategy for disaster resilience, still remains largely unrehearsed when planning and designing sustainable cities. Accordingly, the aim of this paper is to emphasize the need of planning and designing public open spaces with a focus on disaster resilience; as an agent of recovery, to provide essential life support, as a primary place to rescue and for shelters and potential for adaptive response. Further, this ongoing research study analyses the current literature and presents the significance of combination of disaster management strategies with urban planning and designing strategies in order to make cities resilience to disasters. Finally, the analysis suggests a framework to plan and design public open spaces for sustainable disaster resilience cities, proposing set of concepts; loose space concept, Urban Sponge Park, Network of Open Spaces, which can be potentially used when planning and designing public open spaces for disaster resilient citie

The use of Public Open Spaces for Disaster Resilient Urban Cities

There is an increasing recognition on the use of public open space as a strategy to make cities more sustainable. Accordingly, most of contemporary urban planners, designers, and landscape architects use the public open spaces as a strategy to increase the quality of life, to improve aesthetic beauty, to improve the environmental health, economic growth, to increase the walkability, liveability and vitality of a city, which leads towards the sustainability. However, sustainable development should comprise the improvements of disaster resilience. Yet, lack of consideration has been given to use the public open spaces as a strategy for disaster resilience while accommodating the everyday use of the city. In other words, how to use the public open spaces to increase the ability of the city dwellers to resist, absorb, accommodate and recover from the effects of a natural hazard still remains largely uncovered. Accordingly, this desk based research study, explores and emphasises the potential uses of public open spaces for disaster resilience as an agent of recovery, to provide essential life support, as a primary place to rescue and for shelters and potential for adaptive response through the analysis of literature discussions on previous disaster events along with current disaster management strategies and practices

Impact of the disaster-induced relocation process on the displaced communities in Kegalle district, Sri Lanka

Disaster induced displacement and relocation is a frequently occurring phenomenon in the Sri Lankan context. Resettlement has been recognized as a regular result of disasters such as landslides due to the large-scale property damage that occurs. This paper investigates the impact of the disasterinduced relocation process on displaced communities. The study revolves around the sub-objectives of investigating the various needs of victims in different stages of displacement and how relocation has altered the social, cultural, and livelihood dimensions of the victims. Victims of the Aranayake landslide who were residing in the Kegalle district and who were resettled mainly in a Donor Driven relocation site were selected for the study. A purposive sampling technique was implemented in two phases. In the first phase, in-depth interviews with officials and focus group interviews with community members were carried out. Next, a community needs analysis was conducted with the participation of the community and officials. The data suggests that there is a clear lacuna in strong, written policy frameworks and its practical implementation when satisfying the various needs of displaced communities. Being confined to only understanding the social and economic details of various displaced groups, policy planners have tended to neglect the necessity of conducting a needs analysis with the main reason being the lack of perception of relocation as a long-term process. Therefore, in conclusion, the study suggests a model that addresses the need for a holistic institutional arrangement with further disaster risk management strategies to address the adverse impact on the disaster-induced, displaced community

Design Factors for a Successful Shared Street Space (SSS) Design

The concept of Shared Space Street Shared Space Street (SSS) has the potential to bring many benefits to a city. Those include promotion of social interaction, the connectivity within the city for both vehicles and pedestrians, active engagement of the people with the space, walkability, vitality and street livability, better economic wealth and alike. These factors work together to improve livability, vitality of street and indirectly bring economic wealth to municipalities through increasing the footfall to shops, enhancing the health and safety of the locality and increasing the property values. Hence, this clearly is a consideration for strategic property management and relevant professionals. However, This concept has also been criticized for its practical issues when implemented in some parts of the world. Such issues include difficulties faced by aged people and people with disabilities, harassment faced by the cyclists, etc. This paper explores the methods and approaches that can be used to harness potential advantages of the SSS concept and to overcome its practical issues and criticisms through a detail evaluation of design driven use of space in three case studies within United Kingdom. Finally, this paper proposes a set of design factors which can be applied to a SSS design in order to ensure a successful implementation

Plan and design public open spaces incorporating disaster management strategies with sustainable development strategies: a literature synthesis

The current focus of planning and designing public open spaces has been mostly given on creating sustainable cities contributing to its’ three pillars; economic, social and environmental. However, the negative implications of rapid urbanization and the implication of climate change have increased disaster risk in cities mounting more pressure on the path of sustainable development. Therefore, it is imperative to incorporate the enhancements of disaster resilience with the sustainable development strategies. Yet, the integration of disaster management strategies with planning and designing public open spaces remains unrehearsed within the urban planning context. Accordingly, this ongoing research study emphasizes the need for incorporating disaster management strategies with sustainable development strategies when planning and designing public open spaces in cities. This paper first analyses the disaster management literature, providing evidence of the potential use of public open spaces as an agent of recovery, to provide essential life support, as a primary place to rescue and for shelters and potential for adaptive response. Secondly, the paper cross-analyses planning and designing literature with disaster management literature to find out the methods and approaches that can be used to harness the identified potentials. Finally, the paper suggests a set of strategies to plan and design public open incorporating disaster management strategies with sustainable development strategies

Role of the Built Environment in Rebuilding Displaced and Host Communities.

Disaster-induced and conflict-induced forced displacements areamong the biggest humanitarian and development challenges of the countriesaround the world in the 21st century. The increasing rate of the forced displacementputs significant pressure on the built environment which popularly includes thechallenges associated with delivering the essential goods and services, providingadequate and appropriate housing, and sufficient infrastructure to both host and displaced communities. However, apart from this physical aspect, the built environment has a significant role to play in rebuilding communities addressing the sociocultural, livelihood, and economic aspects and social cohesion between displacedand host communities. The understanding of this complex and multifaceted role ofthe built environment is an essential factor in resettlement planning in order to delivera successful relocation program ensuring the long-term satisfaction of the displacedand host communities. With the identification of this research need, the projecttitled REGARD (REbuild-inG AfteR Displacement) which is a EuropeanCommission funded collaborative research project, investigated the role of the builtenvironment in rebuilding communities following the disaster and conflict-inducedmass displacements.The method involved first reviewing the literature related to the field and conceptualising a framework based on literature synthesis. Data collection was initiated through the selection of participants using purposive sampling which include government officials, community representatives, social support networks, agency networks. A total of 37 interviews were carried out by the 3 partner countries; 12 inthe UK, 11 in Sweden, and 14 in Estonia. In the context of Sri Lanka 10 key informantinterviews and focus group discussions with community members were conducted covering both conflict-induced and disaster-induced displacement.Analysis revealed that the built environment has an instrumental role to play inrebuilding displaced and host communities by acting across six perspectives; constructing physical assets, stimulating economic assets, facilitating institutional assets, developing human capital assets, nurturing social assets, and protecting natural assets. This chapter presents the research findings across these six perspectives synthesising the role of the built environment (BE) in rebuilding communities and enhancing social cohesion between host and displaced communities. Finally, the chapter introduces a comprehensive framework of role of the built environment, summarising the research findings which can be used by the future academics, practitioners, and policymakers in the field of displacement resettlement planning