Chamindi Malalgoda

Creating a disaster resilient built environment in urban cities: The role of local governments in Sri Lanka

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the role and challenges for Sri Lankan local governments in creating a disaster resilient built environment within urban Sri Lankan cities.Design/methodology/approach – The paper is based on a literature review and a case study conducted in the Batticaloa city of Sri Lanka, supported by expert interviews among local and other government officials, policy makers, practitioners and academics who are engaged in disaster management and urban planning within the country.Findings – The literature and empirical data reveal that local governments are facing a number of challenges in contributing to making cities resilient to disasters. Some of the issues that have emerged are inadequate financial and human resource capabilities; a lack of knowledge of disaster risks and vulnerabilities; the need for long‐term political commitment; a lack of focus on pre‐disaster planning; inadequate legislative authority; a lack of clear cut responsibilities and coordination among...

Challenges in Creating a Disaster Resilient Built Environment

Abstract With the increase in occurrences of high impact disasters, the concept of risk reduction and resilience is widely recognised. Recent disasters have highlighted the exposure of urban cities to natural disasters and emphasised the need of making cities resilient to disasters. Built environment plays an important role in every city and need to be functional and operational at a time of a disaster and is expected to provide protection to people and other facilities. However, recent disasters have highlighted the vulnerability of the built assets to natural disasters and therefore it is very much important to focus on creating a disaster resilient built environment within cities. However the process of making a disaster resilient built environment is a complex process where many challenges are involved. Accordingly the paper aims at exploring the challenges involved in building a disaster resilient built environment. Paper discusses the findings of some expert interviews and three case studies which have been conducted in Sri Lanka by selecting three cities which are potentially vulnerable to threats posed by natural hazards. The empirical evidence revealed, lack of regulatory frameworks; unplanned cities and urbanisation; old building stocks and at risk infrastructure; unauthorised structures; institutional arrangements; inadequate capacities of municipal councils; lack of funding; inadequacy of qualified human resources; and corruption and unlawful activities as major challenges for creating a disaster resilient built environment within Sri Lankan cities. The paper proposes a set of recommendations to address these prevailing concerns and to build a more resilient built environment within cities.

Disaster resilient built environment: role of lifelong learning and the implications for higher education

Disasters cause considerable damage around the world every year. The built environment is significantly affected by disasters. Whilst the built environment is expected to withstand such occurrences, the construction industry is expected to play a pivotal role in reconstruction of damaged property and infrastructure. Such responses call for technological and managerial innovation. Therefore it is important that construction professionals receive continuous skill development to respond to disaster situations in order to build a disaster resilient built environment. Due to the complexities involved in and due to peculiar nature of disaster situations, lifelong learning is considered as an appropriate way of ensuring continuous education to the various stakeholders of disaster management. The paper reports preliminary findings from a European Commission funded research project aimed at modernising the higher education institutes to support lifelong learning in the built environment. The paper reports the key findings from the literature review and case study on disaster management, emphasising the role of lifelong learning in disaster management education. Empirical data collected as part of the workshop suggest that providing disaster management education as a degree programme is ineffective due to the complexity and multi-disciplinary nature of the subject. Further, the lack of involvement with the industry and the lack of research and development activities on disaster management by built environment professionals act as hindrance to effective disaster management education. In addressing the shortcomings on the existing approaches of disaster management education, this paper concludes that lifelong learning as the most appropriate approach to educate built environment professional in the context of disaster management.

A disaster resilient built environment in urban cities

Purpose – This research aims at making recommendations to empower the Sri Lankan local governments in creating a disaster resilient built environment. Disasters make a huge impact on the built environment. In turn, failure of the built environment can create significant impacts on social and economic activities. Thus, when moving towards safer cities, it is important to develop the built environment in such a way that it can withstand threats posed by natural disasters. Various stakeholders need to get involved in the process of making a disaster resilient built environment, of which the local governments need to play a critical role, as they are the closest government body to the local community. However, local governments are facing a number of challenges in responding to city resilience activities. Design/methodology/approach – The research adopts case studies as its research strategy and investigates three cities in Sri Lanka which are potentially vulnerable to disasters. A number of expert interviews have also been conducted to supplement the case study findings. Findings – The paper presents the challenges faced by the Sri Lankan municipalities in creating a disaster resilient built environment and provides recommendations to empower municipalities to effectively contribute to city resilience. The paper suggests amending policies related to establishment of municipal councils and disaster management to provide more authoritative powers for municipalities to effectively engage in city resilience building. Findings also revealed the importance of addressing financial and human resource issues, which were the main drivers of hindrance. Furthermore, all relevant urban development plans, risk maps, disaster resilient planning, construction and operation guidelines and resilient land use practices need to be integrated into existing planning and building regulations, and proper monitoring and control mechanisms have to be established to ensure compliance with the regulations. In doing so, it is important to raise awareness of council officials of disaster risks and resilient practices by way of organising educational programmes such as seminars and workshops. It is also suggested that municipal officials should be involved in national-level decision-making with regard to their local areas and to establish proper communication channels to exchange decision and information related to city resilience. Research limitations/implications – The paper is based on case studies in three cities and a number of expert interviews, which are limited to the Sri Lankan context. Inputs from other cities from developed countries may further validate the recommendations. Originality/value – The paper highlights the challenges faced by the local governments in creating a disaster resilient built environment within Sri Lankan cities and provides recommendations as to how the local governments could be empowered in creating a disaster resilient built environment within cities.

Enhancing post-disaster reconstruction capacity through lifelong learning in higher education

Purpose – Due to the complexities involved in disasters and due to the peculiar nature of post-disaster reconstruction, built environment professionals require continuous updating of their skills and knowledge to contribute effectively to disaster resilience. The purpose of this paper is to identify the ways in which higher education institutions (HEIs) can address this need through the provision of lifelong learning. Design/methodology/approach – This paper is based on both a literature review and on empirical evidence obtained through interviews, a workshop and group validation. Findings – The challenges faced by HEIs in accommodating lifelong learning are presented. Furthermore, good practice guidelines are provided to enable HEIs to respond effectively to industry requirements; to provide lifelong learning via through-life studentship; to promote collaboration amongst HEIs, industries, professional bodies and communities, and to promote the adoption, diffusion and exploitation of the latest learning a...

Empowering local governments in making cities resilient to disasters

The paper intends to elaborate the research methodology adopted for a doctoral research study aimed at developing a framework to empower the local governments to make cities resilient to disasters in the built environment context. Based on the constructionism epistemological undertaking and the theoretical perspective of being interpretivism in nature, the research would fall under the category of qualitative research. Therefore, qualitative strategies are best suited for conducting this study. Various research strategies exist for qualitative research, such as case studies, ethnography, grounded theory and phenomenological research. The research seeks to investigate how local governments can be empowered to make cities resilient to disasters in the built environment context, and out of the available qualitative research strategies, case studies have been identified as the most appropriate research strategy for the research discussed in this paper. The paper compares and contrasts the available research strategies and claims the suitability of the case study research strategy, in achieving the aims and objectives of the research. In doing so, the paper outlines the inherent components of the methodology namely, research philosophy, approach, strategy, choice, time horizon and techniques while justifying the suitability of the selected methodology through various research methodology literature.

Overcoming challenges faced by local governments in creating a resilient built environment in cities

Purpose Although, a number of initiatives have been taken after the devastating Indian Ocean tsunami to institutionalise disaster risk reduction (DRR), gaps still exist in the Sri Lankan local government sector. Even after ten years, local governments are still struggling to overcome a number of challenges in relation to making resilience in the built environment. DRR has not yet been properly integrated into the local government system and, as a result, poses a significant challenge. Accordingly, the purpose of this paper is to discover the hindrances for local governments in creating disaster resilient built environment within cities and to propose ways of overcoming the identified limitations. Design/methodology/approach In total, 15 semi-structured interviews were conducted among experts from Sri Lanka who are involved in disaster management, local governments and built environment fields of study. The interviews were conducted with the intention of gaining expert knowledge pertaining to this field of study. The interviews were mainly designed to capture the current practices for instigating DRR initiatives within Sri Lanka, the role of local governments in creating a disaster resilient built environment and the associated challenges, and ways of overcoming such challenges to ensure an effective contribution to city resilience. Findings Primary data discovered 36 challenges along with some associated sub-challenges. The challenges were categorised under eight main themes: legal framework; lack of adequate tools, techniques and guidelines; human resource constraints; funding constraints; weaknesses in the internal systems and processes; weaknesses in the external systems; community engagement; and other challenges. The paper analyses these challenges in detail and proposes a set of recommendations to overcome the challenges in order to create disaster resilient built environments within cities. Research limitations/implications The paper provides a descriptive analysis of how the Sri Lankan local government sector could overcome the underpinning challenges of contributing to disaster resilience in the built environment and no comparative studies were conducted with in other tsunami affected regions. Furthermore, the paper analyses partial findings of a broader research, which was aimed at developing a framework to empower local governments in creating a disaster resilient built environment. Originality/value The paper provides an extensive analysis of the challenges faced by local governments in contributing to the resilience of their built environment and proposes how these challenges could be overcome while making a worthwhile contribution to both theory and practice. Accordingly, the paper recommends major changes in policy and practice with respect to bringing local governments into DRR.

Disaster Management Education through Higher Education - Industry Collaboration in the Built Environment

Effectively responding to the current and dynamic construction labour market requirements is a major responsibility of higher education institutions (HEIs). HEIs aim to reduce the mismatch between what they deliver and what is required by the industry. Built environment professionals require continuous update of knowledge and education in order to effectively contribute to disaster management. However, the complex and multidisciplinary nature of disaster management education pose a challenge to the higher education institutions to make them more responsive to the industrial needs and to prepare the students for careers in disaster resilience. Adopting a lifelong learning approach would be appropriate for HEIs to maintain a through-life studentship and to provide disaster related knowledge and education on a continuous basis to respond to the labour market requirements. However, incorporating lifelong learning approach within the system of higher education is not easy and straightforward for HEIs. This is mainly because of the formal and bureaucratic nature of HEIs that acts as a barrier for providing effective lifelong learning education. In resolving this issue, HEIs are increasingly relying on the benefits associated with fostering close collaboration with external organisations such as industries, professional bodies and communities. In this context, this paper discusses the role of HEIs in providing disaster management education, the challenges associated with it, and the way of addressing the challenges through the higher education industry collaboration.

Contextualising mainstreaming of disaster resilience concepts in the construction process

Purpose Construction industry and the built environment professions play an important role in contributing to society’s improved resilience. It is therefore important to improve their knowledgebase to strengthen their capacities. This paper aims to identify gaps in the knowledgebase of construction professionals that are undermining their ability to contribute to the development of a more disaster resilient society. The paper also provides a series of recommendations to key actors in the built environment on how to more effectively mainstream disaster resilience in the construction process. Design/methodology/approach The paper reports the findings of 87 stakeholder interviews with: national and local government organisations; the community; non-governmental organisations, international non-governmental organisation and other international agencies; academia and research organisations; and the private sector, which were supplemented by a comprehensive analysis of key policies related to disaster resilience and management. The findings were validated using focus group discussions that were conducted as part of six organised stakeholder workshops. Findings The primary and secondary data generated a long list of needs and skills. Finally, the identified needs and skills were combined “like-for-like” to produce broader knowledge gaps. Some of the key knowledge gaps identified are: governance, legal frameworks and compliance; business continuity management; disaster response; contracts and procurement; resilience technologies, engineering and infrastructure; knowledge management; social and cultural awareness; sustainability and resilience; ethics and human rights; innovative financing mechanisms; multi stakeholder approach, inclusion and empowerment; post disaster project management; and multi hazard risk assessment. The study also identifies a series of recommendations to key actors in the built environment on how to more effectively mainstream disaster resilience in the construction process. The recommendations are set out in five key themes: education, policy, practice, research and cross-cutting. Research limitations/implications This study is part of an EU funded research project that is seeking to develop innovative and timely professional education that will update the knowledge and skills of construction professionals in the industry and enable them to contribute more effectively to disaster resilience building efforts. Originality/value The paper provides an extensive analysis of the gaps in the knowledgebase of construction professionals that are undermining their ability to contribute to the development of a more disaster resilient society. Accordingly, the paper recommends major changes in construction education, research, policy and practice with respect to mainstreaming disaster resilience within the construction process.

Towards a framework for closer university-industry collaboration in educating built environment professionals

Recent reports suggest that even the current industry skills needs are not being adequately met with graduate capabilities falling short of industry expectations. If higher education institutions (HEIs) are to respond effectively to the current and future challenges, a robust conceptual appreciation of the education-industry skills context is required in order to support recommendations and, ultimately, interventions. A conceptual framework aimed at addressing the ‘mismatch’ between the skills requirements of industry and the competences of graduates in the built environment sector was derived. A series of surveys was undertaken on the basis of the derived framework. It was intended that the findings from the surveys would enable the framework to be refined and validated. However, some of the findings suggest that the originally derived conceptual framework does not adequately represent the complexity of the professional learning context and it is not feasible to refine it. This paper describes the conceptual framework which was derived, highlights selected findings from surveys which indicate its inadequacy and then draws on the contemporary literature of higher education futures to discuss the implications for a more representative framework. Recommendations for a closer representation of the education-industry context and for further research directions are made.