Despite significant progress in the application of science and technology to disaster reduction, communities are still challenged by disaster preparation, response, and recovery. We have reduced the number of lives lost each year to natural disasters, but the costs of major disasters continue to rise. A primary focus on response and recovery is an impractical and inefficient strategy for dealing with these ongoing threats. Instead, communities must break the cycle of destruction and recovery by enhancing their disaster resilience. The Subcommittee on Disaster Reduction identified four key characteristics of disaster-resilient communities: * Relevant hazards are recognized and understood. * Communities at risk know when a hazard event is imminent. * Individuals at risk are safe from hazards in their homes and places of work. * Disaster-resilient communities experience minimum disruption to life and economy after a hazard event has passed. High-priority science and technology investments, coupled with sound decision-making at all levels, will dramatically enhance community resilience and thus reduce vulnerability. In support of this goal, six Grand Challenges in this report provide a framework for sustained Federal investment in science and technology related to disaster reduction.

Despite significant progress in the application of science and technology to disaster reduction, communities are still challenged by disaster preparation, response, and recovery. We have reduced the number of lives lost each year to natural disasters, but the costs of major disasters continue to rise. A primary focus on response and recovery is an impractical and inefficient strategy for dealing with these ongoing threats. Instead, communities must break the cycle of destruction and recovery by enhancing their disaster resilience. The Subcommittee on Disaster Reduction identified four key characteristics of disaster-resilient communities: * Relevant hazards are recognized and understood. * Communities at risk know when a hazard event is imminent. * Individuals at risk are safe from hazards in their homes and places of work. * Disaster-resilient communities experience minimum disruption to life and economy after a hazard event has passed. High-priority science and technology investments, coupled with sound decision-making at all levels, will dramatically enhance community resilience and thus reduce vulnerability. In support of this goal, six Grand Challenges in this report provide a framework for sustained Federal investment in science and technology related to disaster reduction.

Methods of risk and reliability analysis are becoming increasingly important as decision support tools in various fields of engineering. Safety, Reliability and Risk Analysis: Beyond the Horizon covers a wide range of topics for which risk analysis forms an indispensable field of knowledge to ensure sufficient safety.

There is consensus in literature that urban areas have become increasingly vulnerable to the outcomes of economic restructuring under the neoliberal political economic ideology. The increased frequency and widening diversity of problems offer evidence that the socio-economic and spatial policies, planning and practices introduced under the neoliberal agenda can no longer be sustained. As this shortfall was becoming more evident among urban policymakers, planners, and researchers in different parts of the world, a group of discontent researchers began searching for new approaches to addressing the increasing vulnerabilities of urban systems in the wake of growing socio-economic and ecological problems. This book is the joint effort of those who have long felt that contemporary planning systems and policies are inadequate in preparing cities for the future in an increasingly neoliberalising world. It argues that “resilience thinking” can form the basis of an alternative approach to planning. Drawing upon case studies from five cities in Europe, namely Lisbon, Porto, Istanbul, Stockholm, and Rotterdam, the book makes an exploration of the resilience perspective, raising a number of theoretical debates, and suggesting a new methodological approach based on empirical evidence. This book provides insights for intellectuals exploring alternative perspectives and principles of a new planning approach.