Abstract
A growing number of scholars have heeded calls for an urban research agenda grounded partly in the experiences of small urban places. This chapter makes a similar appeal to disaster researchers who have developed frameworks for thinking about urban disasters based largely on the experiences of larger cities. Disaster risk is also growing rapidly in small urban places, far from centres of trade, culture, and politics. Governing disaster risk in small cities will be an essential part of managing Asia’s urban transition. I identify four unique characteristics of small cities important for disaster risk management. First, small cities are physically, politically, and culturally distant from capitals and other centres of power and influence. Second, small cities accumulate disaster risk in similar ways to larger urban centres, but without the attendant growth in infrastructure or governance capacity. Third, urbanization in smaller cities outpaces environmental learning. That is, the centres of environmental “memory” that are key to long-term risk governance may be absent. Finally, small cities often lack the redundancy that is the hallmark of resilient urban systems. I illustrate my arguments with evidence from three landslide-prone small cities in West Bengal, India. I conclude that more research is needed to understand what the growth of small cities means for disaster risk in rapidly urbanizing countries like India. Our conventional approaches to urban disaster risk management may be ineffective in smaller cities. The concept of disaster governance holds promise, however, because of its inclusion of a wider set of actors and institutions.
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Notes
- 1.
See http://www.unisdr.org/campaign/resilientcities/cities. Most recently accessed on 30 May 2014
- 2.
Throughout my visits to the Darjeeling District, I have worked closely with Save the Hills (STH), a community-based organization headquartered in Kalimpong. STH is dedicated to reducing the risk of landslide disasters in the Darjeeling District through community-based education, research, and advocacy. Their insightful and regularly updated blog is located at www.savethehills.blogspot.com.
- 3.
- 4.
The World Bank (2013) argues that India’s relatively low urbanization is due, in part, to an outdated and stringent definition of urban. Using the Agglomeration Index, the bank estimates that India is as much as 52 % urbanized (see page 24).
- 5.
The Census of India defines “urban” as a place that satisfies three criteria simultaneously: a minimum population of 5,000, at least 75 % of male working population engaged in nonagricultural pursuits, and a population density of at least 400 persons per sq. km.
- 6.
- 7.
- 8.
The total rainfall across the 3-day period was measured at 500–1,000 mm (1.6–3.3 ft).
- 9.
Much of the discussion of distance relates to the scale at which disaster management decisions are made. Disaster governance in India is primarily a function of the states; the Disaster Management Act of 2005 created a disaster management authority at the central government level, but most disaster management roles and responsibilities are delegated to state authorities.
- 10.
In many ways the metaphor of distance is synonymous with power; experiences of physical, experiential, and cultural distance reflect vast inequalities in power across the state and between the Bengali majority and minority ethnic groups.
- 11.
The vernacular architecture utilizes a “wattle and daub” construction, with lightweight walls made of reed matting, wire mesh, and mud plaster (see Fig. 6.2, left photograph. For more on Himalayan Architecture, see Bernier 1997). This lightweight style of construction is far better suited for landslide-prone areas, because it puts less weight on the slope and, in the event of a collapse, is less likely to crush its inhabitants.
- 12.
This is not always the case, of course. In many larger cities also experiencing rapid growth, we see the same phenomenon of “youth” on the periphery, where fast-growing suburbs flout the environmental history of the place and are contributing to a massive increase in hazard risk through questionable land-use and planning decisions (Rumbach 2014a).
- 13.
“Uncle” is an honorific used by young people to show respect for older men and does not imply blood relationship.
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Rumbach, A. (2016). Disaster Governance in Small Urban Places: Issues, Trends, and Concerns. In: Miller, M., Douglass, M. (eds) Disaster Governance in Urbanising Asia. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-287-649-2_6
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