Connecting urban and environmental catastrophe: linking natural disaster, the built environment, and capitalism

Fu, Albert S.

doi:10.1080/23251042.2016.1220891

Cited by 13 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 64 publications

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“…Research over time showcases how environmental changes before a disaster can contribute to greater vulnerability or how environmental changes can occur post‐disaster. Fu (2016, 2022) makes this case for how urbanization and capitalism are intertwined in that the pursuit of profit in a ‘disaster‐industrial complex’ increases disaster risk and decreases interest in mitigation and adaptation—unless it serves remunerative ends. In keeping with these insights, Elliott and Clement (2017) find that urbanized land cover expands post‐disaster.…”

Section: Major Areas Of Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

Inequalities and interrelations: The sociology of disasters at a new crossroads

et al. 2022

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While the sociology of disasters was slow to incorporate the study of inequality in analyses, recent research in the field has centered the study of inequality. Powered by changing empirical terrain in the form of climate change and by theoretically engagement with other sociological subfields, our article showcases how this research analyzes inequality by tracing three research motifs of scale, time, and feedbacks. Using a data set of nearly 200 articles published in the field including all 57 articles published in 10 generalist sociology journals from 2008 to 2020, we relate this perspective on scale, time, and feedbacks to eight primary areas of work in the sociology of disasters: (1) community, social capital, and resilience; (2) migration and displacement; (3) race; (4) gender; (5) intersectionality; (6) health and wellness; (7) governance and policy; and (8) environment and climate change. Our discussion champions future research on feedbacks by providing a theoretical backing with social theory on relational inequality as well as by substantiating it empirically with the eight areas of research.

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Section: Major Areas Of Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

Inequalities and interrelations: The sociology of disasters at a new crossroads

et al. 2022

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“…But disaster experiences can also liberate people from entrenched ways of doing things. At a more macro level, we know that disasters can serve as a catalyst for sweeping policy changes, both progressive (Birkland 2006) and regressive (Fu 2016; Gotham and Greenberg 2014; Klein 2007).…”

Section: Review Of Literature and Theorymentioning

confidence: 99%

Disrupting the Complacency: Disaster Experience and Emergent Environmentalism

Haney

2021

Socius: Sociological Research for a Dynamic World

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As climate change intensifies, scholars are beginning to ask whether firsthand experience with disaster will cause complacent people to develop greater environmental concern and engage in more proenvironmental behaviors. Will the disruption caused by experiencing a local environmental disaster be enough to motivate residents to change their values and behaviors? The aim of this study is to answer that question by analyzing qualitative interview data collected from 40 residents of Calgary, Alberta, who survived the devastating and costly 2013 southern Alberta flood. Despite normally high levels of climate change denial and complacency, findings indicate that the flood prompted residents to concern themselves more with climate change and the climate crisis and to begin adopting many household-level proenvironmental behaviors. The findings also point to important gender differences in both environmental concern and proenvironmental behaviors. Thus, the article establishes a social-psychological process of attitudinal and behavioral change, allowing us to better understand how jarring environmental events disrupt complacency.

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“…Only recently have we studied how these processes of migration and development also create an urban landscape of risk. Due to cities' capital-intensive infrastructure, population concentration, and ubiquitous hazards (Fu 2016) residents must be protected from risks amid capitalist expansion. The following section analyzes these complex interactions by exploring the role of development as a driver of urban risk creation.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…With the blessing of the state, parties actively push growth into hazardous urban spaces, including along waterways (Nicholls and Crompton 2017), in low-lying coastal areas (Brody, Kim, and Gunn 2013), on fault lines (Ramseyer 2012), and near landfills (Gaffney 2018). The potential costs associated with developing in risky places are now included in developers' calculations (Fu 2016). The network of pro-growth interests "captures" local political officials and works to undercut existing environmental protections (Clement and Elliott 2012).…”

Section: The Political Economy Of Urban Placemakingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Development, Responsibility, and the Creation of Urban Hazard Risk

Haney

2021

City & Community

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Scholarly attention has recently shifted to the creation and redevelopment of urban hazardscapes. This body of work demonstrates how housing is deployed in close proximity to hazards, and how the attendant risks have been communicated—or not—to potential residents. Utilizing the case of Calgary, Alberta, this article uses interview data collected from flood-impacted residents, and looks at their perceptions of development and risk creation. The analyses focus on how people attribute responsibility for development in flood-prone areas, and their views on future development in these areas. Results reveal that many residents argued for more government regulations preventing new development in floodplains. Moreover, they viewed developers as narrow-interested capitalists who fail to protect public safety and work to conceal risk from the public. Others wished to see large structural mitigation projects—dams, levees, or floodwalls—or insisted that homebuyers be informed of flood risk prior to purchase. The article concludes by addressing the implications for scholarly work in urban sociology, environmental sociology, and the sociology of disaster—all of which grapple with tensions between place-making and risk creation.

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Connecting urban and environmental catastrophe: linking natural disaster, the built environment, and capitalism

Cited by 13 publications

References 64 publications

Inequalities and interrelations: The sociology of disasters at a new crossroads

Inequalities and interrelations: The sociology of disasters at a new crossroads

Disrupting the Complacency: Disaster Experience and Emergent Environmentalism

Development, Responsibility, and the Creation of Urban Hazard Risk

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