11 Land Use Planning for Disaster Resilience

Dr. Rajnish Ranjan

epgp books

 

 

 

 

Objectives

  • To understand the basic concept of Land Use Planning for promoting Disaster Resilience
  • To understand relations between land use planning and DRR initiatives.
  • To understand the system of integrating DRR into land use planning.

   Introduction

 

Cities in the developing world are facing increased risk of disasters and the potential of economic and human losses from natural hazards is being exacerbated by the rate of unplanned urban expansion and influenced by the quality of urban management. Risk Sensitive Land Use Planning is widely recognized as key non-structural risk mitigation measure with the potential to avoid exposure in the most hazardous zone and to decrease overtime exposure and vulnerability in already urbanized areas.

 

The Report of United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Bureau for Crises Prevention and Recovery (2004) pointed out that 75 percent of the World’s population lives in regions affected at least once by natural disasters between 1980 and 2000. Cities in the developing world are facing increased risk of disasters and the potential of economic and human losses from natural hazards is being exacerbated by the rate of unplanned urban expansion and influenced by the quality of urban management (Tarhan et al ,2016).

 

Risk information can be used as one of the basis to identify future directions and intensities of land uses. It begins with an assessment of natural hazards in relation to human and physical vulnerability, capacity and development. This is included in the situational analysis of different sectors. Based on an analysis of the risk and how city land use management addresses the development issues and concerns, gaps are identified and addressed.

 

Land use planning can influence mitigation of disasters through the development of strategic use of land resources as well as assessment of development applications on the basis of the adopted plan. No any construction of buildings, developmental planning or works should be allowed unless it shows the potential risk from natural hazards is reduced to an acceptable level and risk reduction strategies are incorporated in the utilization of resources within the planning area.

   

Definition of terms

 

“Land use planning is defined as the systematic and iterative procedure carried out in order to create an enabling environment for sustainable development of land resources which meets people’s needs and demands. It assesses the physical, socio-economic, institutional and legal potentials and constraints with respect to an optimal and sustainable use of land resources, and empowers people to make decisions about how to allocate those resources (ADPC, 2013)”. Well planned land use planning is directly related to hazard mitigation , which may be defined as the sustained action taken to reduce or eliminate long-term risk to people and property from natural and man-made hazards and their effects. Disaster risk reduction (DRR) in the context of land use planning is defined as the systematic approach for identifying, assessing and reducing the risks of disaster. It aims to reduce socio-economic vulnerabilities to disaster as well as dealing with the environmental and other hazards that trigger them.

 

A hazard An event or physical condition that has the potential to cause fatalities, injuries, property damage, infrastructure damage, agricultural losses, harm to the environment, interruption of business, or other types of harm or loss, and the vulnerability is the level of exposure of human life and property to damage from natural and manmade hazards (FEMA).

 

Resilience is the capacity of human and natural/physical systems to adapt to and recover from change. To continue to enjoy living and receiving the benefits these coastal areas have to offer, there is a need to make the natural, built, and social environments more resilient or is the ability of individuals, communities, organizations and states to adapt to and recover from hazards, shocks or stresses without compromising long-term prospects for development. And according to Hyogo framework of action resilience is ‘the capacity of a system, community or society potentially exposed to hazards to adapt, by resisting or changing in order to reach and maintain an acceptable level of functioning and structure’ (UNISDR, 2005). The goal of resilience is for communities to anticipate, withstand and recover quickly from shocks and stresses, with minimal outside assistance.

 

Risk reduction is an issue that requires its own group of goals and objectives as part of broader society goals and objectives. The nature and content of these goals and objectives will vary from place to place in response to the nature and level of risk associated with the potential impacts of natural hazards.

 

Factors affecting Land Use Planning

 

The overall landuse pattern in a particular location is directly or indirectly related to a number of complex factors and is categorized into three namely physical, economic and social factors.

 

1. Physical Factors

  • Ø Topography of the land
  • Ø Water availability
  • Ø Micro-climatic situations
  • Ø Soil quality

   2. Economic factors

  • Ø Cost of land
  • Ø Proximity to markets
  • Ø Economic development objectives

   3. Social factors

  • Ø Rules and regulations
  • Ø Heritage practices
  • Ø Customs and traditions
  • Ø Societal values

   Land use changes and associated hazards in our country

 

   Due to increasing development such as rapid urbanization and the concentration of human populations and assets in vulnerable cities, as well as the increasing trends of natural hazards (especially hydrological), annual losses in human, economic, financial and environmental resources are increasing exponentially .

 

The process of mainstreaming disaster risk management parameters in land use planning is termed as Risk-sensitive Land Use Planning (RSLUP). RSLUP is a rather new practice – especially in developing countries – and many planners and planning organizations lack the skills and knowledge of adopting appropriate methodology for RSLUP for DRR. Risk-sensitive land use planning recognizes that land use and disaster risk are related elements whose interactions need to be considered to determine the most appropriate and safest strategies for development.

 

DRR Integration into Land Use Planning

 

In order to have a systematic Disaster Risk Reduction in place, there is a need to have an appropriate land use planning. Different land use planning activities for various resources including housing, infrastructure, environment conservation, natural resource management must address the specific vulnerabilities of the location. In order to do this, disaster risk information and handling measures must be considered and deployed as part of the land use planning process. Unfortunately the current land use planning practice in most of the countries does not systematically consider natural hazards or disaster risk reduction as important component. The practical application of well structured policies on land use and building codes can significantly reduce disasters risk. Local governments that are willing, and develop the capacity, to direct city growth and land use in the public interest, can do much to create safer and more comprehensive environment.

 

The integration of disaster risk reduction into land use planning can systematically reduce the impact of specific hazards such as floods, urban flooding, landslides, coastal erosion, salt water intrusion, droughts etc. Risk sensitive land use planning can help in the sustainable development of community dwellers and ensuring their livelihood. The risk sensitive land use planning may significantly control the hazard exposure, which may create disasters if not attended properly. There is also a need to adopt targeted policy provisions in the land use planning to reduce specific aspects of vulnerability viz. poor construction, transportation and road access, lack of evacuation routes and poor drainage systems etc. The main objectives of Mainstreaming DRR into land use planning are as under –

    Ø Spatial decision making based on a broad range of information

Ø Exposure reduction in vulnerable areas

Ø Protection of communities and assets

Ø Avoiding development of new hazards

 

Effective landuse planning can minimize disaster risks in number of ways –

 

Ø Prohibiting and controlling development in high-risk areas through zoning

 

Ø Overlay controls of unhealthy developments

 

Ø Reducing the potential impacts of natural hazard events

 

Ø Applying appropriate development controls

 

Ø ecosystem sustainability and hazard adaptation

 

Ø Ensure sustainable development

 

Ø Integrated hazard planning at the local level

 

Ø Promoting the culture of risk reduction in land use planning

 

Ø creating site-responsive and community-responsive planning controls and design

 

Ø Promote controlled and sustainable urban growth without generating new risks

 

Ø Increased public participation, monitoring and review in the planning processes

 

Process of DRR integration to land use planning

 

(Partially adopted from ISO (2009) and ADPC (2013)

 

In this five stage approach proposed by ISO and ADPC, the planning personal must having a clear idea about the risk management process and the associated land use plan strategies. The Identification, Analysis and Evaluation are the three critical components of any risk management process. This process may be extended to the compilation of data and information desirable to start the risk estimation constituent in the risk management procedure. These five step processes have been developed by adopting the international standards of land use planning. In this way, the stages of the disaster risk management process are methodically included into the land use preparation process which is narrated in the following figure,

 

   Step 1-Preparation

 

Step 2-Data information gathering

 

Step 3-Data information analysis

 

Step 4-Plan formulation

 

Step 5-Plan adoption

 

 

I- PREPARATION

 

Key activities,

 

Ø  Constitute a multidisciplinary planning team

Ø   Comprehensive literature survey

Ø   Formulate the goals and objectives

Ø  Prepare a basic profile of the planning area

Ø   Development of methodology

Ø   Preparation of budget estimates

Ø   Preparation of draft inception report

 

II- DATA INFORMATION GATHERING

 

Key activities,

 

Ø  Preparation of base maps and database

Ø   Data sharing agreements

Ø   Primary and secondary data collection

Ø   Specific hazard and socio economic data collection

Ø   Assembling the data to database

 

III – DATA INFORMATION ANALYSIS

 

Key activities,

 

Ø  Analysis of data (Primary and Secondary)

Ø   Detailed analysis of specific sectoral reports

Ø   Natural recourse and hazard analysis and vulnerability indexing

Ø   SWOT analysis and report preparation

 

IV – PLAN FORMULATION

 

Key activities,

 

Ø  Establish appropriate planning standards

Ø   Formulate draft landuse planning proposals

Ø   Revise the existing sectoral development proposals

Ø   Elaborate a detailed area plan by considering the hazard analysis.

Ø   Identification of priority projects

 

V- PLAN ADOPTION

 

Key activities,

 

Ø  Validation of prepared landuse plan

Ø   Draft report presentation and feedback collection

Ø   Public hearing

Ø   Submission of the report to the authorities

 

Landuse Planning Strategies – The overall assessment of land capability is an important prerequisite that contributes to all planning strategies for effective DRR . Planning strategies should respond to identified risks by seeking to ensure the maintenance of natural systems and avoiding exposure to risk and support for appropriate design and setting controls (AIDR, 2002) . One must consider three things for land use planning 1) Maintaining natural systems, 2) Avoiding exposure to risk, 3) Design and setting controls.

 

Maintaining natural systems

 

The types of action that can be taken are:

 

Ø  Locating development away from sites where natural processes could be affected by development

 

Ø  Implementation of management practices during and after development.

 

Ø   Maintaining natural systems flow regimes.

 

Ø   Implementing various risk reduction practices

 

Avoiding exposure to risk

 

The types of action that can be taken are:

 

Ø  Avoiding those areas where development will increase the likelihood of risk

 

Ø   Avoid the level of impacts for a particular hazard

 

Ø   Creating incentives for removing or modifying structures in areas that increase risk

 

Ø  Prohibiting ways of doing development that are more likely to contribute to increased risk

 

    Design and setting controls

 

The types of action that can be taken are:

 

Ø  Prohibiting development in high-risk areas through zoning and overlay controls

 

Ø   Limiting the types of development allowed in high to moderate risk areas

 

Ø   Zoning vulnerable areas for public uses

 

Ø   Establishing and applying appropriate development controls based on the assessed risk

 

   Techniques for analyzing Risk Sensitivity of land use planning

 

Gaps Analysis

 

Gaps Analysis approach is a method which utilizes a set of desired resilience qualities, from which “gaps” in the current state of affairs or situation of the local government can be identified. The resilience qualities are translated into assessment areas1 where interventions related to changes in legal & institutional arrangements and implementation processes should be made to close the gaps.

 

SWOT Analysis

 

The gaps can also be determined from a SWOT analysis. With the objective of performing actions to address an identified problem, issue or concern, local governments have to identify a strategy (or strategies) and assess the strengths & weaknesses of its internal environment and determine the challenges and opportunities in its external environment. The pairings of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and challenges may be seen as a way for the agency or local government to decide on the action proposed.

 

Historical Mapping

 

Historical mapping can give a perspective on how development can be impacted by future events. In hazard mitigation landuse planning, it is a common practice to include maps showing reported tornado event tracks and to factor this historic information into analysis and recommendations.

 

Existing and future Land Use/Developmental mapping

 

ELU map is an important tool for hazard mitigation planning. Communities are encouraged to maintain an ELU map that can be used in both comprehensive and hazard mitigation planning.

 

The resulting map can provide accurate information for risk assessment with the current landuse activities. Informed land use planning should give consideration to potential natural hazards. Land use plans that encourage developments in areas at risk of flood damage may be compromising hazard mitigation efforts. Coordination of land use mapping and potential natural hazards analysis is critical to reducing damage and making communities more disaster resilient. If plan updates occur at different times, it is important to include the most recent version of the community’s future land use/development map in the hazard mitigation planning process.

 

 

Barriers for disaster resilient landuse planning

 

Ø  Separation between the spheres of government and the functional areas

 

Ø   Developmental pressure

 

Ø   Limited public understanding

 

Ø   Unpredictability of natural disasters

 

Ø   Culture change in terms of attitudes to natural hazards

 

Ø   Limited knowledge of the extent and severity of hazards

 

Ø   Unexpected changes in the spatial extent of areas affected by hazards

 

Ø   Existing commitments

 

Ø   Legal complications

 

Ø   Lack of integration of various sectors

 

 

By reducing the under mentioned disaster risk through better land use planning, communities are able to identify and mitigate the root causes of disasters embedded in the existing land development practices-

 

Ø   Promote controlled and sustainable urban growth without generating new risks

 

Ø  Modify and reduce vulnerable conditions of people (physical/social/economic) and places.

 

Ø  Pre-empt disaster damage before it happens through mitigation

 

Ø  Reduce losses and increase people’s ability to recover by speeding up the process of reconstruction and rehabilitation

 

Landuse planning as a hazard mitigation tool

 

Opportunities:

 

Ø  Improve community resilience through better land use decisions

Ø   Reduce disaster losses through mitigation investments

Ø   Avoid repetitive long-term losses through pre-event action

 

Challenges:

 

Ø  Expand knowledge base of stakeholders

Ø   Create credible science and mapping for wise land use

Ø   Utilize economic self-interest as leverage to overcome legal and political obstacles

 

Conclusion

 

The unplanned development patterns in the landuse planning will create notable challenge in the disaster risk reduction initiatives. The integration of natural hazard management with land use planning is a challenging process. It goes well beyond adding a few risk reduction policies and criteria into a statutory scheme. It makes risk reduction a core issue for planning, developing appropriate strategies and building planning instruments to reduce risks to the safety and sustainability of communities. Land use planning can mitigate many of the impacts of natural hazards by adopting strategic approaches. We need an integrated land use planning for resilient urban communities. The impact of natural and man-made hazards can be reduced through adequate planning and incorporating specific DRR measures in land use planning and urban development processes, thus minimizing the human, economic and environmental damage. Risk-Sensitive Land Use Planning (RSLUP) adds two new considerations to the conventional approach to land use planning and it recognizes that land use and disaster risks are related elements whose interactions need to be considered to determine the most appropriate and safest strategies for development.

 

you can view video on Land Use Planning for Disaster Resilience

 

References

  • Achieving Hazard-Resilient Coastal & Waterfront Smart Growth, (2011) NOAA & EPA Explores how coastal and waterfront communities can create environmentally and economically sustainable neighborhoods while minimizing risks from coastal flooding. Available at: http://coastalsmartgrowth.noaa gov/resilience.html.
  • ADPC-Asian disaster preparedness center (2013), Guidelines for Mainstreaming Disaster Risk Reduction into Land Use Planning for Upazilas and Municipalities in Bangladesh
  • AIDR- Australian institute for disaster resilience (2012), planning safer communities land use planning for natural hazards, manual 7.
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  • Dey, N., et  al. (2012). ‘Assessing  Land-use  Change  and  Land  Degradation in Bangladesh.
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  • EMA (Emergency Management Australia) (2002) Planning Safer Communities – Land Use Planning for Natural Hazards. Australian Emergency Manual Series – Manual 7.
  • FAO and UNEP. 1999. ‘The Future of Our Land. Facing the Challenge. Guidelines for Integrated Planning for Sustainable Management of Land Resources,’ (FAO, Rome).
  • Federal Emergency Management Agency, Hazard Mitigation Planning Resources, Sustainability in Mitigation Planning http://www.fema.gov/hazard-mitigation-planning-resources#1
  • Federal Emergency Management Agency, Hazard Mitigation Planning Resources, Mitigation Planning “How-To” Guides http://www.fema.gov/hazard-mitigation-planning-resources#1