Risk management and environmental assessment for spatial planning

Owing to increased vulnerability and extreme events (including both natural and human-induced hazards), we are faced with the rapidly growing impact of disasters worldwide. There is an urgent need to include the concept of disaster risk management in planning, sustainable development and environmental assessment. Strategic environmental assessment is a process for evaluating the environmental consequences of proposed policy, plan or programme initiatives to ensure they are included and addressed at the earliest possible stage of decision making. The course provides a unique opportunity to integrate a multidisciplinary assessment of risk into strategic planning processes. It brings together a set of powerful tools and techniques to provide timely and objective information on our living environment, and in doing so provides sound information as a basis for planning and policy decisions.

The course provides knowledge and skills applicable to multi-hazard risk assessment and strategic environmental assessment within a clear context of spatial planning routines. At the end of the course, the two concepts are brought together in a realistic case study that deals with a practical situation involving either environmental or human-induced (industrial) hazards. It pays close attention to the use of relevant tools and techniques such as satellite imagery, dynamic modelling and scenario development within a GIS environment.