SEES596 SPECIAL TOPICS IN SUSTAINABILITY: DISASTER MANAGEMENT & MITIGATION

Course Objectives

The course aims to investigate and discuss the environmental, social, and economic impacts of natural and man-induced disasters on sustainable development as well as the importance of integrating principles of sustainability in Disaster Management and Mitigation (DMM) process to achieve a sustainable and resilient future. There is a two-way relation between disasters and sustainability. First, it is necessary to integrate the principles of sustainability in DMM process to achieve long-term and resilient solutions and planning for disaster preparedness, response and recovery. This complex process requires interdisciplinary research on information flow, collaboration methods, design and development of effective technologies and tools (e.g. technologies and tools for communication, collaboration, information exchange, data collection, archiving, protection of critical structures and energy resources, design and construction of the built environment, financial planning and resource allocation) and other management issues (e.g. improvement of legislations, collaboration patterns, evacuation and disaster response procedures, resource allocation and distribution).

Second, disaster management does not only help to mitigate the impacts of disasters on people and the environment but embraces the sustainability agenda and safeguard the future because understanding the disaster management process and mitigating impacts support sustainable future planning. Disasters are unexpected events and they can suddenly derail development plans and progress. If a resilient and sustainable future is aimed to be achieved, potential threats, their impacts and any consequative events (such as fires, epidemics, psychological issues)  should be identified so that future generation of environment professionals should be aware of their responsibilities when planning, constructing and maintaining the long-term sustainable products, structures, economies and communities. This can be achieved by integrating the concept of sustainability in various research and implementations on engineering, construction technologies, architectural design, computational technologies, education, collaboration planning, revision of legislations, etc. 

The course focuses on both of these two approaches to support sustainable environments and societies. It introduces the three stages of DMM process: preparedness, response and recovery and reconstruction. The impacts of disasters on people, nature and built environment, problems of planning and decision making process, responsibilities of stakeholders, resource management, information flow and communication issues at these three stages will be discussed ın relation to sustainability principles from an interdisciplinary point of view. 

Course Content

Course Learning Outcomes

The course will emphasize the importance of need for an interdisciplinary approach for a sustainable DMM process and explore the three main stages of the planning process (before, during and after) in detail. On completion of this course, the students will be able to demonstrate: 

• an understanding of relationship between sustainable development and disaster management.
• a critical thinking approach for the responsibly in mitigation of impacts of disasters on people and environment for sustainable future.
• a critical thinking approach to sustainable planning of the DMM process.
• an awareness of the relationship between people and the hazards in their immediate environment

Teaching and learning methods in the course aims to guide the students to develop self-directed learning methods under supervision to reflect upon their own personal development planning; and to experience and improve skills in collaborative learning and thinking by interacting and participating in class discussions, workshops and collaborative activities throughout the semester.