| Date 14-Aug-2021 to 14-Aug-2021 |
Location Virtual |
Format Online |
“There’s a need for solutions that support people not only in surviving a disaster, but also in bouncing back better, so they don’t irretrievably lose infrastructure, services or sink back into poverty.”
Climate adaptation policies are increasingly experimenting with emerging climate-resilient technologies and infrastructure. In the countries most affected by climate change such as India, climate resilient technologies hold a dual purpose of securing livelihoods of urban populations and reducing climate related risks. For example, solid waste management in India has emerged as a major contributor to environmental hazards, owing to increased carbon footprints amongst other consequences. Technologies being developed to address such challenges must take account of various dimensions of the communities’ lives where they operate.
An intersectional lens for understanding resilience in the context of technological advancements, community needs and sustainable urban planning approaches can assist in creating more nuanced, comprehensive understandings of vulnerabilities that lie at the heart of climate resilience strategies. Social groups are neither homogenous nor static, and intersectional approaches acknowledge this complexity by accounting for historical, social, cultural and political contexts of communities. Interrelationships between identity, power and social institutions have to be analysed together in their interactions with urban planning and operating technologies.
The Covid-19 Pandemic has exacerbated the focus on questions about the role that climate-resilient technologies can play in identifying and reducing environmental risks faced by urban informal communities. Technological developments have had both positive and negative effects on different sections of the population in India. Technology can support building of urban resilience in diverse ways. Data base generation and management is a key component in discussions about climate change. Information Technology (IT) tools like Global Positioning System and various data visualisation techniques can help better inform the municipal bodies, utilities and others as well as the general citizens of the impacts and likely responses of climate change. Advanced mapping, visual and spatial technologies can promote effective resource allocation and resilience strategies in cities. Participatory community data gathering and sharing is also enabled to involve communities in managing their environments and protecting their communities in the context of climate change.
Technology-based tools have been used in various contexts for adaptation and resilience building. In BReUCom Project’s case study on urban heat and spatial dynamics planning towards climate resilience, GIS mapping was used as a data collection tool. Satellite imagery were processed to accurately map water bodies, to determine the presence of moisture in vegetation cover and to assess risk of fire. In addition, climate-resilient technologies can also support communities in adapting with climate risks through early forecasting mechanisms. For example, the Bangladesh government has developed early warning systems to help local communities in coastal areas better adapt to the risks of floods and cyclones. This system has shown that timely flood warnings can prompt communities to protect crops, habitats and livestock. Technology enables global and cross sector information sharing and generation. In contemporary cities, knowledge sharing is power and is facilitated in the urban context by technological advances.
Deep-diving into the negative impacts of emerging technologies on local communities is an equally important assessment for adaptation and resilience related measures. In terms of measuring impacts of these technologies, more often than not the full extent of damage done by using these technologies is either ignored or not accounted for. Their gendered impact, as well as their effects on community practices, traditions and livelihoods need more focussed attention by researchers, policy makers and practitioners. However seeing that technology and digital innovation is now an indispensable stakeholder penetrating the lives and livelihoods of urban informal communities like never before, it is imperative to find sustainable ways of integrating technologies in a way that they support and enhance the quality of life for such communities.
Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) are increasingly being seen as important stakeholders to foster community-engaged approaches for building climate resilience locally, through incorporation of such approaches in teaching and research across field disciplines. To have deeper discussions about the role of higher education institutions in synergizing technological advancements with urban planning and development for building climate resilience, as well as ways in which values of equity and social justice influence and shape climate strategies, Xavier School of Human Settlements (Xavier University Bhubaneswar), Participatory Research in Asia (PRIA), and Building Resilient Urban Communities (BReUCom) initiative will host a webinar on “Intersectionality of Technology, People and Planning for Resilience” on Saturday 14th August 2021 (11.00 am to 01.30 pm).
This webinar will explore the following key areas:
