Building Sustainable Urban Neighbourhoods

What is disaster risk?-Refers to the likelihood of damage to properties, injuries, and loss of lives from a disaster in a given period of time. It is the product of the interaction between hazard, exposure and vulnerability.

What Is Environmental Stewardship? Refers to the actions taken by individuals or groups to protect,care for or responsibly use the environment to purse environmental and/or social outcomes.

What is disaster risk management? Applying plans and actions to prevent new risks, reduce existing risks and manage disaster risks, thus contributing to the strengthening of resilience.

What is Community Resilience? The ability of a community to resist, adapt and recover from the impacts of disasters in a timely and efficient manner.

Actions should

  1. Seek to conserve natural resources.
  2. Preserve the existing natural environment
    1. Repair the damages and reverse the negative impacts caused by humans to ensure its sustainability.

Examples:
Urban neighbourhoods produce large amounts of waste, so it is important that waste materials are recycled. Residents and public and private stakeholders must all play their part in ensuring an efficient and sustainable waste recycling process.

Disaster risks are the product of the interaction between three main factors:

Nature of hazard: The characteristics of the hazard.

This strengthens community resilience.
Disaster risk management strategies aim to reduce:
a neighbourhood's exposure to hazards, and the vulnerability of people and properties to hazards.

It can be developed by:
Strengthening relationships among residents and raising their awareness of potential hazards.
Developing residents' ability to organise themselves and equip themselves with resources to resist, adapt and recover from a disaster.

Strengthening of relationships among residents and raising their awareness of potential hazards.

• Residents are encouraged to get to know their neighbours so that they can depend on one another during an emergency. • Disaster risk management plans in neighbourhoods may only be effective and sustainable if there is widespread support and long-term participation from the residents.

Developing residents' ability to organise themselves and equip themselves with resources to resist, adapt and recover from a disaster.

Residents in the neighbourhood can be involved in an inclusive planning process that involves community leaders, civil society organisations and the government.
• When residents actively participate in projects to minimise potential hazards in the neighbourhood, they can better understand the risks and adaptation options to communicate to the planners and government

The People's Association (PA) organises a wide range of community activities aimed at fostering positive relationships amongst residents living in the neighbourhood.

The community's resilience was evident throughout the COVID-19 pandemic as residents came together to provide assistance to others in need (e.g. mask and food distribution).

Examples

o Singapore has a comprehensive disaster risk management plan. The main agency responding to disasters is the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF). Town Councils also have the responsibility to cooperate with other government agencies in securing public safety and preventing disease or injury.

The SCDF conducts a Community Emergency Preparedness Programme (CEPP), which focuses on key lifesaving skills and important emergency procedures.

a SCDF has a Public Warning System (PWS) which is a network of sirens placed at strategic points throughout the city. It warns the public of imminent threats that may endanger lives and properly such as natural and man-made disasters.

Vulnerability: The conditions determined by physical, social, economic and environmental factors, which increase the susceptibility of people and their belongings to the impacts of hazards.

Exposure: The situation of people and their belongings located in hazard-prone areas.