Does urbanization increase the risk of and vulnerability to natural disaster: a review of the literature

Purpose: Rapid urbanization is increasing interactions between humans and the environment, ultimately increasing vulnerability to natural disasters. The magnitude of associated economic and social losses in low and middle... [ view full abstract ]

Purpose: Rapid urbanization is increasing interactions between humans and the environment, ultimately increasing vulnerability to natural disasters. The magnitude of associated economic and social losses in low and middle income countries is typically much greater than that experienced by better resourced and prepared countries. This review reflects on the state of knowledge regarding interactions between urbanization and natural hazards in low and middle income countries and explores documented responses and preparedness activities, with an emphasis on reducing risk and vulnerabilities and reinforcing resilience.

Methods: This narrative literature review was undertaken in the preparation for a systematic review. Key words including urban and its synonyms, disaster and its synonyms like natural hazards, earthquake, flood, cyclone, tsunami, typhoon, hurricane and heatwave were searched in the context of low and middle income countries. Databases including Pubmed and Web of Science plus data bases of systematic reviews. Data was abstracted systematically following a predetermined format and a framework analysis was undertaken.

Results: The existing literature connecting urbanization with disaster is often conceptual, focusing mainly on the issues of risk management, pre and post-disaster scenarios. While policy support and public legislation have influencing roles, most reported interventions employed social science approaches such as community participation, disaster education, livelihood management and mental health preparedness. A few studies discussed the causal chain of urban activities and increased risk of disasters due to increasing environmental stress. Others proposed broad conceptual or statistical frameworks for disaster management including the pressure and release model and risk assessment and planning approaches applying GIS and remote sensing techniques.

Conclusions: Knowledge and information on urbanization and its relation with risk of and vulnerability to natural hazards are limited. The existing literature is largely focused on disasters and their impacts, leaving a gap in our understanding of the causal chain and temporal associations.