(DOWNLOAD) "Identifying the Secure City: Research to Establish a Preliminary Framework (Research Note)" by Canadian Journal of Urban Research # eBook PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Identifying the Secure City: Research to Establish a Preliminary Framework (Research Note)
- Author : Canadian Journal of Urban Research
- Release Date : January 22, 2004
- Genre: Social Science,Books,Nonfiction,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 203 KB
Description
Abstract Urban centres are vulnerable to remote threats (terrorism, climate change, the spread of disease), yet there are few tools available to assess these problems. We propose a preliminary framework to assess the vulnerability of urban systems to future shocks based on landscape ecology's "Panarchy Framework." According to Panarchy, ecosystem vulnerability is determined by three generic characteristics: (1) the wealth available in the system, (2) how connected the system is, and (3) how much diversity exists in the system. In this framework, wealthy, non-diverse, tightly connected systems are highly vulnerable. The wealth of urban systems can be measured using the approach pioneered by development economists to assess how poverty affects food security. Diversity can be measured using the tools investors use to measure the diversity of investment portfolios to assess financial risk. The connectivity of a system can be evaluated with the tools chemists use to assess the pathways chemicals use to flow through the environment. This approach can lead to better tools for creating policy designed to reduce vulnerability, and can help urban or regional planners identify where systems are vulnerable to shocks and disturbances that may occur in the future.