From disaster and climate risk to urban resilience: approaching through community based environmental improvement

This book aims to facilitate risk reduction process in a sustainable manner with the help of urban environmental improvement at neighbourhood level in coastal cities of India. It does so by recognizing the fact that urban disaster and climate related risks need utmost attention from those who are at risk.

It consists of eleven chapters, which: (i) sets the background for the current problem and the research approach; (ii) focuses on various efforts of urban environmental management; (iii) looks at urban risk from the lenses of community vulnerabilities; (iv) attempts to understand the link between cities and climate change with regard to role of local communities; (v) investigates institutional structure at different levels along with policies and programs and further presents a possibility for interlinking towards sustainable urban development; (iv) introduces case-study cities with detailed description of two coastal cities: Mumbai and Puri; (vii) describes case studies in Chapter 7 (land use planning, informal settlements and solid waste management in Mumbai), Chapter 8 (disaster and environmental risks exposure, Disaster Management Plan and Environmental Status Report of Mumbai), Chapter 9 (2005 Flood and its impacts on the community based activities in Mumbai), and Chapter 10 (eco community activities in Puri); and (viii) summarizes the discussion and synthesis towards 'disaster resilient eco-communities', with suggestive framework where local community based participatory vehicle plays the most important role.