Spatial, temporal and socio-economic aspects of (urban) hazards

Disaster risk is overall well understood, and many methods exist for risk analysis, decision support for risk reduction actions, and early warning, and to a lesser extent for early action, damage mapping and recovery assessment. However, practically every aspect of dealing with disaster risk or actual events contains economic dimensions that are typically not well understood at all. Methods tends to focus on physical elements, while theories and tools developed by the economics community are largely disregarded. We want to encourage students to develop thesis topics that advance our understanding into the economic side of disaster risk management. The economic component of disaster analysis to be researched may include (i) the exploration of the relationship between direct and indirect damages, and across spatial, temporal and hazard dimensions, (ii) systematic assessment of disaster damages including those to natural resources of public interest such as national parks, but also to public goods such as clean water or air, (iii) the role of technical, social and economic drivers and constraints in recovery, or (iv) assessment of early action schemes based on forecast-based financing and their impact on the affected communities. The above only serve as starting points for a discussion between the student and the supervisors to develop a topic suitable for MSc research.