Handbook

The subject presents geographic and social science approaches to disaster resilience in cities and regions. In it, students will examine how geographical concepts of social diversity, political ecology and vernacular adaptation can enhance resilience thinking, policy and practice. The subject will focus on developing student skills in analysing disasters as linked socio-ecological systems and apply conceptual lenses and analytic tools to identify vulnerable populations and adaptive capacities shaped through relations of power. Through topics such as social vulnerability to climate change, the socio-ecological nature of bushfire risk in peri-urban zones and the gendered and racialised dimensions of intense weather events students will identify how and why disasters emerge, document their geographically uneven expression and identify opportunities for social justice in complex adaptive systems. They will also weigh-up the implications of these approaches for resilience thinking, policy and practice.