INTEGRATING DISASTER RESILIENCE IN THE DEVELOPMENT PLANNING OF HIMALAYAN TOWNS - CASE STUDY: CHAMBA

Abstract

Cities are complex social - ecological systems (SES's) which have resilience, adaptability and transformability and these three characteristics of an SES are interlinked and interrelated. "Resilience in this context is the capacity of an SES to continually change and adapt yet remain within critical thresholds. Adaptability is also part of resilience. It represents the capacity to adjust responses to changing external drivers and internal processes and thereby allow for development along the current trajectory. Transformability is the capacity to cross thresholds into new development trajectories". (Carl Folke, 2010) Considering hazards as external driver and if SES has the tendencyto absorb it then the system is called resilience. Every system is capable of absorbing certain amount of external driver and that capacity is the adaptability of the system. More the adaptability more is resilience. The critical threshold is the limit after which system changes its function. Therefore as a planner the aim should be to increase the adaptability of the system which in turn will increase the critical threshold of it, making the system more resilient. Hence hazards will remain just a natural phenomenon and will not become disasters. Increasing the adaptability only causes the system to grow along the current trajectory which is in contrast to the development which is always taking the SES to a new level. Therefore along with increasing the adaptability of the system the transformability of the system should be monitored and planned so that the system is resilient yet developing. In this dissertation the basic idea is to identify the critical threshold and adaptability of Indian Himalayan Region and to define the transformation trajectory for development by taking hazards as external drivers. Hence the aim of the dissertation is to integrate the disaster risk reduction with spatial planning. Micro level approach for disaster risk reduction, which is very close to ground realities of the area in question, is adopted. While attaining this goal the dissertation also justifies why India should switch to Pre-disaster preparedness approach rather post-disaster relief and rehabilitation one. Where pre-disaster preparedness should not only be limited to policies and guidelines but should also be integrated in the city planning procedure as well and hence should be reflected in the physical planning of cities. Case of Chamba town in Himachal Pradesh has been used to formulate the solutions. These solutions are generalised to formulate the policy for entire Himalayan Region. As the thesis title suggests, the author will be containing herself to Indian - Western Himalayan Region. Worldwide efforts are being made to make pre-disaster mitigation and management, a mainstream approach. United Nations new campaign 'make cities resilient' is entirely based upon this goal. This report is analysing the current situation and trends in India and their effect on society, economy, environment and hence on development. The report discusses on how the post disaster management approach is leading to poverty and economic slowdown for India In the report the author has contained herself to the spatial planning aspect of disaster mitigation.