Disaster risk reduction has become a global strategy for making cities more resilient since the establishment of the Hyogo Framework for Action in 2005. The question that still challenges emergency management scholars and professionals, however, is what contributes to the progress of resilience building. Previous literature suggests that disaster resilience can be attributable to multiple factors, including leadership. But the specific abilities that help leaders promote resilience have not yet been examined empirically. To address this problem, using the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction 10 Essentials for Making Cities Resilient as guidelines, we assessed the progress of flood resilience building in Thailand and its relationship to local government leaders' abilities. Our research showed that, since the flood disaster in 2011, municipalities in Thailand have made moderate progress in flood resilience building. The results of a multiple regression analysis revealed that disaster resilience leadership abilities have had a statistically significant, positive effect on the progress of flood resilience building. Our findings underscore the role of leadership in making cities more resilient and shed light on how local government leaders can contribute to the progress of disaster risk reduction. We also outline the academic implications and practical contributions of our research.

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This study aimed to describe the importance of low carbon policies and address strategies to promote community participation in implementing low carbon cities. Hat Yai City Municipality was observed as a case study on policy and participation. Although Hat Yai is an important economic city in Southern Thailand, it is prone to climate change threats and impacts. The study employed a qualitative design. Primary and secondary data were collected from documents, semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions, and participant observations. Thirty-seven key informants comprising 7 policy representatives of Hat Yai City Municipality, 20 stakeholders in low-carbon model communities, 4 private sector members, 2 media workers, 2 NGO members, and 2 civil society representatives were involved. Through content analysis and data triangulation, the results revealed key influencing factors of low carbon city implementation. The results revealed that the success of low carbon cities depends on the three P-S-P factors. The initial letter P refers to policies at the national and local levels. The following letterS refers to stakeholders who should be fostered on networking and cooperation. The final letter P refers to participation, which should be encouraged through context-based promotion of learning, whereas a cooperation network should be expanded to reach all stakeholders in society.