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Bringing a population-environment perspective to hazards research

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Abstract

Studies on risks and vulnerabilities have become one of the principal interdisciplinary themes of population and environment studies, especially in dense metropolitan spaces. Current debates on global environmental change have reinforced this tendency, since the consideration of specific vulnerabilities of urban populations is one of the most urgent issues of the contemporary environmental discussion. This discussion, however, has notably under-emphasized social and spatial concerns, highlighting the need to search for bases that support a more conjunctive and wide-ranging perspective of vulnerability. This article seeks to develop a social and spatial perspective on vulnerability, incorporating social assets theory to population-environment studies.

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Notes

  1. The report states: “There is observational evidence for an increase of intense tropical cyclone activity in the North Atlantic since about 1970, correlated with increases of tropical sea surface temperatures” (IPCC 2007:8).

  2. See http://www.unisdr.org/.

  3. See http://sedac.ciesin.org/gpw/.

  4. See http://www.ciesin.columbia.edu/tsunami2004.html and http://sedac.ciesin.columbia.edu/katrina2005.html.

  5. See http://www.cred.be/.

  6. See, respectively, http://www.colorado.edu/hazards, http://www.cas.sc.edu/geog/hrl/, and http://www.tyndall.ac.uk/.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Applied Sciences, University of Campinas (FCA/Unicamp), R. Pedro Zaccaria, 1300 - Limeira, São Paulo, CEP 13484-350, Brazil

    Eduardo Marandola Jr.

  2. Population Studies Center (Nepo), University of Campinas (Unicamp), Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil

    Daniel Joseph Hogan

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  1. Daniel Joseph Hogan
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  2. Eduardo Marandola Jr.
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Correspondence to Eduardo Marandola Jr..

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Hogan, D.J., Marandola, E. Bringing a population-environment perspective to hazards research. Popul Environ 34, 3–21 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11111-012-0166-4

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