Funda Atun-Girgin, Johannes Flacke, Richard Sliuzas
Case study area will be selected together with students and could include cities in which staff and PhD research is ongoing or envisaged.
Urban systems consist of multiple interrelated components that include physical and social structures, among people, organizations, infrastructures, technology and the economy. In such an environment, how a disruption in one sub-system could affect the entire urban system cannot be foreseen in every detail before a disaster. In this research, you will work on the consequences of uncertain interactions in urban systems due to dynamic and interactive conditions, involvements of multiple actors and changing technologies and cultures.
Dynamic and interactive conditions: The outcome of actions, which are defined in the plan by regulations, could be different than anticipated due to the constantly changing environment. In such a situation, new decisions, which are not defined in the plan, have to be taken with limited knowledge of the current situation.
Involvement of multiple actors: Organizations, institutions, people, activities are as many parts of a system as its physical artefacts, and all of them are dynamic and interlinked. The interdependencies bind individual and collective actions, as well as physical elements in cities.
Changing technologies and cultures: Technology can either trigger the disturbance or become part of the solution itself. How organizations and institutions could adapt to changes in technology is key to smart and liveable cities.
Objectives:
• To analyze potential disruptions in an urban system concerning major hazardous events
• To evaluate the consequences of uncertain interactions in urban systems due to dynamic and interactive conditions and/or involvements of multiple actors and/or changing technologies and cultures.
• To identify ways to reduce disaster risk in complex city systems.
• To identify ways to improve the disaster-resilience of complex city systems.
Suggested methodology:
Mixed research methods, spatial system dynamics, service chain frameworks, the network of stakeholder analysis, vulnerability assessment, risk assessment.
Comfort, L. K., (2019). The dynamics of risk. Changing technologies and collective action in Seismic events. Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press.
https://ut.on.worldcat.org/oclc/1099525085
Comfort, L. K., Haase, T. W., Ertan, G., & Scheinert, S. R. (2020). The dynamics of change following extreme events: Transition, scale, and adaptation in systems under stress. Administration and Society, 52(6), 827-861.
Santos, P.P., Ksenia Chmutina, Jason Von Meding & Emmanuel Raju. (Eds.). (2020). Understanding Disaster Risk: A multidimensional approach. Amsterdam, Oxford, Cambridge: Elsevier.
https://ut.on.worldcat.org/oclc/1198018002