Urban Design for Natural Disasters
Low-Income Families Hit Hardest in Hurricane Harvey Photo by Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Image From catastrophic climate change to natural disasters, doomsday seems closer than ever. According to the International Disasters Database, natural disasters have been steadily increasing over the past few decades, from 78 in 1970 to 348 in 2004. With global media coverage being so vast, disasters that kill hundreds of people around the world are becoming not uncommon. Natural disasters including floods, hurricanes, tornadoes , earthquakes, tsunamis kill on average 60,000 per year and displace and injury millions. How does this impact the way we design cities and buildings? Should we be putting more emphasis on designing for natural disasters? Today, I am going to explore the ways architects, engineers, and urban designers are looking at ways to combat catastrophic climate change through the way we design and build our cities. ...