There is a growing realisation that pre-disaster planning is an effective approach to building the resilience of nations to adverse events. There is mounting evidence that little has been done in terms of pre-disaster planning, not only in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) but also throughout much of the Islamic world. The reasons for this are twofold. Firstly, there are staggering economic developments, largely based on oil and gas revenues post World War 2, which substantially change the livelihoods, and therefore the vulnerability, of local populations. In the case of UAE, this was a move from a nomadic Bedouin pastoral culture to one of living in modern urban areas. Secondly, cities in the UAE have developed to a point where they are now global cities. City growth and development is being driven by the massive growth in immigration of foreign nationals and international businesses. In the UAE, there are seven foreign nationals for every UAE citizen. These developments have substantially changed the risk profile of the UAE. Many of the risk management strategies practiced when the UAE was mainly a nomadic society are no longer appropriate. Similarly, immigrants will bring with them different kinds risk management strategies, depending on their place of origin. Though the UAE is multi-cultural, Islam is an important part of the culture of the Emirates. The research investigates the role of Islam in disaster risk reduction. The research used a mixed methods approach for date collection. Secondary research developed the overview of the UAE vulnerability. Primary research had two parts. The first was data collection from groups of male and female community members and stakeholders in each Emirate to provide a comparative analysis of risk perception and response. The second comprised key stakeholder interviews and a focus group who had broad for disaster risk reduction. This research presents the first hazard history of UAE. A vulnerability viewpoint is used to evaluate the hazard history and findings are presented in the paradigm of natural hazards research. An evaluation of UAE’s institutionalisation of Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) strategies in the context of its international obligations, e.g. the Hyogo Framework, is undertaken. Central to the argument about the difficulties of implementing DRR is the role of Islamic culture. The research offers the results of fieldwork that explore experience of disaster and emergency at personal, community and institutional level. It offers observations, from personal experience, of the difficulty of delivering interventions in traditional Arab architecture/land use patterns for emergency services as well as the challenges of the new, high rise, concrete cities. Most importantly, it looks to the governance issue of the Muslim faith, including the Quran itself, to see if there is any obligation or requirement to take community DRR seriously. It is this emphasis on understanding Muslim faith, the backbone of local lives, which underlie new directions for DRR in UAE. The research finds that there is too great a focus on institution building as opposed to improving community preparedness. It also finds there is strong support for a greater role of the Mosques in building community resilience. The research ends with an outline of the different vulnerabilities in each UAE Emirate but also with an emphasis on the importance of Muslim faith as the backbone of the total national community and the stepping-stone to a community based DRR.

A common platform for both disaster risk reduction (DRR) and climate change adaptation (CCA) has been sought around the world to reduce human vulnerability, enhance adaptive capacity and achieve other contemporary global targets. This policy framework at global and national level creates a challenge for local level implementation: climate change is a global risk predicted by scientists whereas disaster vulnerability is experienced by local people. To consider these circumstances, the thesis examines how DRR and CCA can be integrated at local level and what kind of governance and institutions are needed to ensure community participation in the whole process of local development. In order to address the research question, the thesis focuses on four inter-related themes: (i) redefining social vulnerability in a changing environment; (ii) understanding local knowledge, experiences and practices in terms of coping with climate induced disasters; (iii) investigating the DRR and CCA conundrum of implementing national policies at local level; and (iv) exploring the transformation of socio-cultural landscape of rural Bangladesh through external interventions at local level in a DRR–CCA context. The study has gone through an in-depth empirical data analysis of DRR and CCA processes both in flood prone Jamuna river basin and cyclone prone coastal areas in Bangladesh. Fieldwork involved qualitative approaches and methods, and some use of quantitative survey method; including 29 semi-structured in-depth interviews, varied participatory rural appraisal (PRA) tools applied in nine focus group discussions (FGDs) and a questionnaire survey conducted in three selected study villages. Respondents included local people, particularly disaster survivors, local level practitioners, national level professionals formally linked to disaster and climate issues and academics. The findings of the thesis show that local knowledge and practice, particularly through recent experiences of environmental crisis help communities to adapt to climate related disaster risks and that the survivors of floods have more distinct coping and adaptive capacity than those of cyclones. The research found that disaster management in Bangladesh is strong up to local level and that recent government and nongovernmental initiatives for DRR and CCA assist communities coping with extreme events. However, the whole system often fails to identify and understand localised disaster and climatic risks due to a lack of effective community inclusiveness in decision-making processes. The study argues that a ‘whole-of-society’ approach should be a pervasive aspect of internal and external interventions aiming to implement more integrated DRR–CCA at local level.

To address the growing frequency and intensity of disasters a global effort is underway to change the dominant approach to disaster policy from disaster response to integrating disaster risk reduction (DRR) throughout development activities. Research into how DRR policy progresses in a government context is lacking. Using a qualitative case-study approach this research examines how the global policy prescription of mainstreaming disaster risk reduction (DRR) is unfolding within the Government of Nepal. In particular, this research a) challenges the rhetoric of substantive policy change that underpins the concept of mainstreaming and b) questions its efficacy as a neoliberal post-New Public Management policy tool given that the disaster vulnerability literature implicates neoliberalism as a driver of disaster risk. Finding change to be the dominant theme throughout the research, it applies theories and frameworks from the policy paradigm change literatures (e.g. Advocacy Coalition Framework, social learning and paradigm policy change) to explain what was found in the Nepal case-study. Eight months of fieldwork took place throughout 2014-2016. In total, eighty-eight in-depth interviews were conducted with bureaucrats and political party members at the central, district, and local levels. This research advances the disaster vulnerability scholarship through its critique of neoliberal policy discourse and its application of policy change literature. It is argued that the concept of mainstreaming fits the criteria of a neoliberal buzzword; the findings of this research demonstrate why this is problematic. The lead ministry responsible for disaster management appropriated the global policy rhetoric of mainstreaming DRR in order to minimize any substantive policy change that the DRR agenda promotes. Despite this, evidence is also found of a growing awareness and advocacy of DRR within the Government of Nepal. This is suggestive of an advocacy coalition starting to develop, which is being built through social learning. The role of individual bureaucrats and political party members, rather than a centralised legalistic approach, is found to be fundamental to changing the disaster response policy paradigm. This research calls attention to the need to critically analyse how top-down global DRR policy prescriptions are interpreted by nation-states. Empty and hollow global policy buzzwords are easily translated into a rhetoric that does not match with the reality of the governing and the policy environment.

Disasters, both natural and human-made can have severe impacts on communities and infrastructure. The approach to minimising the impact of such events is Disaster Risk Reduction. This research looks at weather related disasters in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and methods used to reduce risk. The research was undertaken using a mixed methods approach. Some 200 people, both male and female, were sampled using questionnaires in four different provinces of the kingdom. The purpose was to gain an understanding of their knowledge of hazards and preparedness. Interviews were held with a number of key stakeholders in disaster management. Focus groups were conducted with religious leaders in order to gain an understanding of the role of Islam in risk reduction. The results showed that the majority of questionnaire respondents lacked knowledge and information about disasters in their places of residence. Further, they are not well prepared to face the risks of natural disasters and lacked knowledge of how to mitigate their risks. However, the majority of participants strongly believed they can minimize the risk of disasters and they were enthusiastic to participate in any efforts of disaster risk reduction in the kingdom. The Saudi government is building a disaster management system. However, it needs a greater focus on raising community awareness and preparedness. The research finds that the mosques has the opportunity to play an important role of in raising community awareness and preparedness. The Holy Quran teaches that protecting the environment and all creatures is part of Islamic worship. An extreme version of the fatalistic view of natural disasters is not fully supported in this study, which argues that natural disasters might have many other interpretations, such as a test from God, a natural process and a result of humankind’s negative intervention in nature. The role of the mosque, which has a special sacred place in the life of every Muslim, has been researched. The research shows that the mosque has a central role in the life of Muslims but this role seems to have declined recently. The strategic position of the mosque and its special status in the life of every Muslim make it a very important place for effective natural disaster risk reduction. This study suggested possible roles for the mosque to raise awareness and to help with preparedness. Some practical steps are suggested to integrate Islamic teachings into the policies and strategies of natural disaster risk reduction in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. These steps are based on previous research about the role of religion in disaster risk reduction and the findings of this research.

<p>The thesis is an ethnographic study of children’s identity work and social geographies in the schools and neighbourhoods of a Swedish suburb. The aim of the reported research is to study children’s agency and their narratives of different places. The findings show how identity work can be understood from the viewpoint of children as social agents taking part in reconstructing their own social geographies. It is the social aspect of the identity work that is the focus here and how it is a relational process constructed in interaction in different contexts. In the analyses, the children’s agency and narratives, such as interviews, maps and photographs, are seen as identity performances.</p><p>The findings show how identity work is situated. Identity work takes place in places that invite participation in various activities but these places are also constructed by the children and their identity work. The construction of <i>us</i> and <i>them</i> is a continuous process whereby the children (re)construct both structural conditions and conditions of a more local character. The children construct both shared and segregated places in the school yard, while performing as “us-in-the-school class”, “best friends” or “football player”, as well as more traditional categories such as age, ethnicity, gender and social class. The results also show the close relation between school and neighbourhood, and how segregation between two neighbourhoods in the suburb increased because of school choice. Children from middle-class areas took part in reconstructing the multiethnic neighbourhood as a no-go area and one of the schools as a no-go school. In the narratives of their neighbourhood, the children used community discourses when making identity claims such as “rich Swedish kids from Tallvik”. Thus, segregation and identity work are intimately connected when children construct an <i>us, </i>in close relation with some and distanced to others at the same time. </p>

The thesis is an ethnographic study of children’s identity work and social geographies in the schools and neighbourhoods of a Swedish suburb. The aim of the reported research is to study children’s agency and their narratives of different places. The findings show how identity work can be understood from the viewpoint of children as social agents taking part in reconstructing their own social geographies. It is the social aspect of the identity work that is the focus here and how it is a relational process constructed in interaction in different contexts. In the analyses, the children’s agency and narratives, such as interviews, maps and photographs, are seen as identity performances. The findings show how identity work is situated. Identity work takes place in places that invite participation in various activities but these places are also constructed by the children and their identity work. The construction of us and them is a continuous process whereby the children (re)construct both structural conditions and conditions of a more local character. The children construct both shared and segregated places in the school yard, while performing as “us-in-the-school class”, “best friends” or “football player”, as well as more traditional categories such as age, ethnicity, gender and social class. The results also show the close relation between school and neighbourhood, and how segregation between two neighbourhoods in the suburb increased because of school choice. Children from middle-class areas took part in reconstructing the multiethnic neighbourhood as a no-go area and one of the schools as a no-go school. In the narratives of their neighbourhood, the children used community discourses when making identity claims such as “rich Swedish kids from Tallvik”. Thus, segregation and identity work are intimately connected when children construct an us, in close relation with some and distanced to others at the same time.

An interest in human coping applicable to endemic disease environments such as Bangladesh now includes disease mitigation and management through self-care. Although a frequently utilised treatment, research into the reasons behind self-care preference, types of self-care practised and the implications this has for individuals and communities in developing countries such as Bangladesh is lacking. This research therefore examines the adoption of self-care in Bangladesh and seeks to understand if it is an effective disease management strategy. A mixed methods approach was employed, targeting a representative sample of different gender, age and socioeconomic status across three locations. 630 questionnaires, 47 semi-structured interviews, 15 focus group discussions, 20 key informant interviews and a series of participatory research tools were applied to explore how and why people use self-care. Data were also used to identify behaviours indicative of appropriate and inappropriate self-care that are beneficial or detrimental to the individual. A detailed and complex picture of self-care emerged. It is widely used to prevent and respond to illness through traditional, herbal and modern pharmaceutical actions. Common illnesses and endemic diseases such as fever and diarrhoeal diseases were most frequently treated through self-care. A declining natural resource base, a hazardous flood environment and communication breakdown between doctors and patients can restrict self-care adoption. However, economic savings on healthcare expenditure, reduced opportunity costs and the means to preserve dignity represented positive aspects of self-care amongst participants. Examination of these factors demonstrated the failings of current health service provision as well as the potential for better self-care integration into existing healthcare approaches. Wider lessons for disease management were therefore derived from self-care including the importance of low cost manifold strategies and the value of local knowledge and ownership. It is concluded that although self-care is not a panacea for the burden of ill health there is evidence to suggest it can play a crucial role in coping with the insurmountable disease risks people face in Bangladesh. In doing so the research contributes to understanding self-care in developing countries as an integrated and integral component of the primary health care system and infectious disease risk reduction more widely.

The United Kingdom is committed to cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent by 2050 as part of a strategy to mitigate climate change. As housing is responsible for approximately 26 percent of all UK carbon emissions, housing carbon reduction is a key component in meeting this target. Local Authorities are faced with the problem of how to improve the quality of existing housing stock, provide additional social housing to meet increasing demand, and cutting emissions from both new and existing housing stock. The Private Finance Initiative (PFI) is being used as a means to deliver new and refurbished social housing using private, rather than public capital, and is expected to enable the delivery of sustainable, rented homes. However there have been concerns about the use of the PFI model to deliver public sector housing which meet sustainability goals. The overall aim of this thesis is to examine whether the UK’s Public Finance Initiative (PFI) can achieve the procurement of sustainable social housing. In order to address this aim, the study considers the technical and contextual issues that affect sustainability in PFI housing projects, focussing specifically on one such project in the North East of England. With regard to the technical issues, the research introduces a methodological tool that has been developed to assess the sustainability of PFI housing projects. It is envisioned that the tool will be useful for assessing the sustainability of other housing projects procured under a public private partnership arrangement. The contextual issues are examined by means of an ethnographic study carried out from within North Tyneside Councils PFI procurement team over a period of 2 years. The results of the study suggest that the PFI procurement model can be used to deliver sustainable housing, but is currently hampered by a lack of skills, knowledge and understanding. These problems are particularly acute at the project management and governance level within the procuring local authority. The study identifies the need for clear guidance on incorporating sustainability into the procurement of PFI projects. It also recommends the use of appropriate tools to assess the sustainability of plans and build capacity within local authority procurement teams.

The Ida B. Wells Homes, the first black-occupied housing project built in Chicago, were completed in 1941. Throughout their construction and inhabitation, the black community in Chicago worked to create a self-contained space which would control the visibility/invisibility of its black inhabitants and, symbolically, the black community as a whole. Taking as theoretical grounding Katherine McKittrick’s work on garreting and Susan Lepselter’s work on license, this essay argues that the Ida B. Wells Homes were a South Side garret for the black community, a space in which freedom became defined by its own boundaries and wherein this freedom could work in tandem with dominant geographies of oppression to construct a “different” geographic story. This “different” geography intended to alter perceptions of black life by working against dominant geographic narratives that were prevalent at the time, such as those put forth by the Chicago School of Sociology. / text

Women who live in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside experience some of the most devastating health problems among residents of British Columbia. While crack cocaine use has been associated with many of these problems, we lack an understanding of how women who use crack cocaine experience these health problems and what they do to manage them. Informed by tenets of intersectionality and social geography, a critical ethnographic approach was used to examine the scope of health concerns experienced by women who are street-involved and use crack cocaine, the strategies they used to manage their health, and the social, economic, political, personal, and historical contexts that influenced these experiences. Data were collected over a seventeen month period and included a cross sectional survey (n=126), participant observations, and interviews (n=53). The women described experiencing poor physical and mental health throughout their lives; many of which were preventable. Respiratory problems, anxiety, sadness and insomnia were the most frequent concerns reported. They endured severe economic deprivation, unstable and unsanitary housing, and relentless violence and public scrutiny across a variety of contexts including their homes and on the street. These experiences were further influenced by structural and interpersonal relations of power operating within the health care, legal, and welfare systems. The women engaged in a several strategies to mitigate the harmful effects of factors that influenced their health including: (a) managing limited financial resources; (b) negotiating the health care system; (c) managing substance use; and (d) managing on your own. These strategies were influenced by the types of concerns experienced, perceptions of their most pressing concern, the nature of interpersonal relations with health care providers, and the limited social and economic resources available. Changes in the organizational policies and practices of the welfare, legal, and health care systems are needed to improve women’s health. Possible strategies include increased access to welfare and safe, affordable housing, safer alternatives to income, and improved collaboration between illness prevention and law enforcement programming. New approaches are required that build on women’s considerable strengths and are sensitive to ways in which gender, race, and class can disrupt opportunities to access services.