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International Journal of Urban Sciences

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An alternative approach for planning

the resilient cities in developing
countries
a b b b
Sameer Deshkar , Yoshitsugu Hayashia & Yasuhiro Mori
a
Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology, Nagpur, India
b
Nagoya University, Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, 464-8603, Japan

Available online: 05 Aug 2011

To cite this article: Sameer Deshkar, Yoshitsugu Hayashia & Yasuhiro Mori (2011): An alternative
approach for planning the resilient cities in developing countries, International Journal of Urban
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 International Journal of Urban Sciences
Vol. 15, No. 1, April 2011, 114

An alternative approach for planning the resilient cities in developing

countries
Sameer Deshkara,b*, Yoshitsugu Hayashiab and Yasuhiro Morib
a
Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology, Nagpur, India; bNagoya University, Furo-cho,
Chikusa-ku, 464-8603, Japan
(Received 4 March 2011; revised version received 28 March 2011; nal version
accepted 5 April 2011)
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Twenty-rst century cities in developing countries have been facing development

challenges as a result of their fast-growing urban populations and inecient
infrastructures, as well as growing diculties created by climate change. Though
concern for integrating disaster risk management approaches into development
planning has been expressed in various policy documents and studies, exact
methods of such integration at the spatial level are still being deliberated. The
concepts of quality of life (QoL) and disaster resiliency are closely linked and their
interrelationship is understood from the denitions and concepts developed in
dierent studies. A disaster can have a negative impact on QoL and resiliency for
disaster can protect and maintain QoL. This study develops an approach for
integrating disaster resiliency into QoL based on new urbanization models, which
can be re-orientated towards achieving resiliency. The Quality of Life with
Disaster Resiliency (QoLDR) index oers the integration of resiliency issues
arising from the urbanization process as well as natural hazards. It also provides
directions for altering urbanization and increases adaptability, which results in
resilient urbanization.
Keywords: disaster resiliency; quality of life; resilient urbanization; sustainable;
development; climate change

Background
With the current rapid pace of urbanization, almost 54% of the urban population of
the world will be concentrated in Asia by the year 2050. Along with these
urbanization trends, reported natural disasters have also been exponentially
increasing in Asia. The Low Elevation Coastal Zones (LECZ) have been the most
aected areas, accounting, on average, for 85% of people killed between 2000 and
2008. The results from climate change, such as heavy rainfall, heatwaves, oods,
storms, res, droughts, etc., are also projected to put greater stress on economic
growth, natural resource availability, the provision of amenities and the sustenance
of urban areas (Wilbanks et al., 2007).
At the same time, the conventional adopted path of urbanization in most of the
developing countries, including India, contributes to the rising vulnerability of urban
centres to natural calamities and social conicts. The concentration of economic

*Corresponding author. Email: sdeshkar@gmail.com

ISSN 1226-5934 print/ISSN 2161-6779 online

2011 The Institute of Urban Sciences
DOI: 10.1080/12265934.2011.580148
http://www.informaworld.com
 2 S. Deshkar et al.

activities in urban areas and subsequent rapid pace of urbanization is blamed for the
development of hazardous areas, degradation of environmentally valuable areas and
the rise of slums, squatters and urban poverty. The cities in developing countries are
grappling with the issues of overcrowding, reduced levels of basic amenities,
infrastructure failures under immense pressures for supply with limited availability
of natural resources, forced environmental migrations, increasing trends of
epidemics, and natural calamities. The increasing vulnerabilities and adverse
environmental conditions under climate change scenarios thus make it critical to
achieve and maintain QoL in urban locations.
Against this background, there is a need to critically examine urbanization
processes and spatial development policies with the intention of generating resilient
communities. With an ever-increasing trend for natural disasters, the concept of
disaster resiliency, an approach that deals with maintaining a balance and returning
a system to its original state after a disturbance, is rapidly gaining recognition. It is
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being identied as an essential approach for sustaining urban growth, especially

under climate change scenarios.
On the other hand, the concept of urban QoL has been among the most
important factors in dening the competitiveness of cities and is used in deliberating
on urban development policies. However, based on the current trends of
urbanization and development, the economy assumes a dominating role in
comparison to the other domains of QoL. The environment, health, safety and
security are substantially compromised in relation to the economy, employment
generation and industrial growth. While a disaster can have critical implications for
QoL, in terms of dening a sustainable path of urbanization under a changing
environment using QoL estimation as a base, it is imperative to dene a mechanism
for integration of disaster risk resiliency with other aspects of QoL.
Though concerns for integrating disaster risk management approaches into
development planning has been expressed in various policy documents and studies,
methods of such integration at the spatial level are still being discussed. The cities are
no longer homogeneous entities, and varied developments along with varied
vulnerabilities are growing in an enclaved or patch manner (Wadwekar et al.,
2009). A framework of guidelines is therefore essential to dene areas that need to
have adaptive policies and areas that require redevelopment approaches for a
comprehensive resiliency framework for the cities.

From urbanisation to resilient communities: an Indian perspective

India is one of the most vulnerable and risk-prone countries in the world. Extreme
events such as oods, droughts, cyclones, earthquakes and landslides have been
recurrent phenomena in India on account of its unique geo-climatic features (GOI,
2004). Between 1991 and 2000, an estimated 24% of disaster-related deaths in Asia
occurred in India, on account of its size, population and vulnerability (Tenth Five
Year Plan [FYP] of the Government of India [GOI]). However, Indias increasing
vulnerability to disaster is also closely related to unresolved development problems
manifested through growing urban poverty, development within high-risk zones,
environmental degradation and climate change. High population density, poverty,
extreme dierentials in access to housing, public services and infrastructure have led
to an increase in vulnerability over the last few decades, especially in Indias urban
centres (Revi, 2008).
 International Journal of Urban Sciences 3

With over 25% of the total urban population categorized as urban poor (NSSO,
2004) and an estimated urban housing shortage of 26.53 million dwelling units
(MHUPA, 2011), the cities have become the most vulnerable locations. The high
concentration of economic and social assets has resulted in unplanned and
inadequate development activities. The urban locations also suer from extremely
high levels of damage from natural disasters. The recent urban oods in various
parts of India have revealed the negative side of development activities.

Urbanization, migration and vulnerabilities

India recorded a rapid growth in its urban population in the last few decades on
account of its rapid industrialization. The distribution of the urban population
across dierent size categories as revealed by census reveals that the process of
urbanization in India has been orientated towards mega-cities and large urban
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centres (Figure 1). Over the next 15 years, India will experience dramatic settlement
transitions, with an estimated 70 cities having a population exceeding 1 million. Of
the nearly 28% per cent total urban population (Census, 2001), around 68% live in
class-I cities with a population of over 100,000 (Eleventh FYP, 2006).
At the same time, detailed decadal studies on the trends of migration indicate a
general deceleration in ruralurban migration. However, in terms of gender,
migration studies infer that rural women are joining their families who have already
migrated to the urban centres and that family migration toward urban regions has
increased (Kundu, 2006). This has necessitated a large-scale enhancement of the
urban infrastructure to support the fast-growing urban population. However, the
municipal bodies, which are responsible for the provision of basic services, are
struggling with limited nancial resources and capacities. Hence, in order to increase
the economic base, huge urban infrastructure reform projects have been planned
under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM), with a
vision to create cities as places of hope. These will be supported with a US$ 10

Figure 1. Proportion of urban population in dierent size categories.

Notes: Population Census classies urban centres into six categories based on population size
as follows: Class I 100,000 or more; Class II from 50,000 to 99,999; Class III from 20,000 to
49,999; Class IV from 10,000 to 19,999.
 4 S. Deshkar et al.

billion challenge fund to address infrastructure development, urban poverty and

urban governance.
In contrast, policy planning and implementation in the rural development sector
have been comparatively weaker on account of some serious issues, such as the
suicide of farmers in some of the developing regions of central India. The Indian
economy has been witnessing tremendous transformations over the last few decades
and is struggling to balance the growth needs of rural areas, which predominantly
rely on an agriculture-based economy. Since 2008, there has been a negative growth
in the agriculture sector resulting from erratic monsoons, as well as a slowdown in
industrial growth because of the global economic crisis (Economic Survey, 2010).
A broad look at the national level trends over the past few decades also reveals
that the growth of gross domestic product (GDP) is paralleled by the rise in urban
population (Figure 2(a)). GDP growth, through asset creation and infrastructure
building, is expected to improve the quality of life of and provide safer livelihoods
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Figure 2. (a) GDP growth and urban population. (b) GDP growth and disaster aected
population.
 International Journal of Urban Sciences 5

for people. Generally, a better QoL also means improved resiliency. However, this
does not seem to be the case, because GDP growth does not reduce the disaster-
aected population (Figure 2(b)). The focus on the industrial economy has created
lopsided growth and resulted in a rise of vulnerable groups depending on primary
economic occupations, who migrate towards huge urban centres in order to improve
their livelihood.
Thus, regional economic imbalance, together with inadequate and poor life
support services in rural areas, acts as a catalyst for large scale migration towards
mega-cities and urban regions. At the same time, inadequate infrastructures and lack
of access to urban amenities expose the migrated poor populations to vulnerable
situations in cities. However, the hypothesis that development can improve living
conditions in rural areas and thereby curb migration may not always prove correct.
Development may lead to improved access to cities as a result of increased literacy
and awareness in the rural areas facilitating better income opportunities in urban
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regions (Rhoda, 1983), thereby again encouraging migration towards urban areas.
But developmental eorts may also create weaker institutions in the rural regions,
making policy preparation and implementation critical.
Various studies conducted on underdeveloped and problematic regions such as
parts of Chhatisgharh state, Naxal movement areas on the borders of Maharashtra
and Andhra Pradesh, etc., demonstrate the conicting benets and decits resulting
from industrialization. Developing areas benet from large industries that provide
employment to the locals in exchange for natural resource extractions. However, the
livelihoods of tribal populations as well as their traditional rights over natural
resources are not given due consideration in the implementation of such
development projects. The failure of resettlement and rehabilitation programmes
for the project aected populations (PAPs) also induces displacement and
marginalization of the tribal communities. Thus, the economic imbalance resulting
from the inux of migrant populations from poorer rural areas creates a burden for
urban areas with inadequate capacity and infrastructure to accommodate them.

Urban land management and vulnerabilities

Migration and population growth alone cannot be blamed for increasing risks in the
urban areas (Figure 3). The rate of provision of safer and developed lands and other
life support systems lag far behind the pace of urban population growth. The
acquisition of land for development also creates problems, for example provision of
inadequate compensation, failure to update land records and land titling documents,
recorded lack of clarity in norms and misuse of the authoritative powers by the
developmental agencies to manipulate the nomms for acquisition of lands, gaps in
rehabilitation and resettlement policy implementations, etc. On account of the poor
land regulations and building bylaws, urban planning has to deal with large negative
externalities caused by haphazard and unconstrained land use (Morris and Pandey,
2009). The most signicant eects of such loose development regulations in cities are
the dilapidated urban cores, growth of slums and degradation of environmentally
valuable areas.
Unregulated urban peripheries, undevelopable low lying areas, lake catchments,
urban river banks and densely built urban core areas host the most vulnerable
populations, which have little or no access to the infrastructure and informal
housing. The exorbitant land prices and unaordable housing also force the migrant
 6 S. Deshkar et al.

poor population to settle illegally in derelict and hazardous areas. The slum
populations living in such locations are also subjected to seasonal displacement
resulting from ooding and res. The urban poor are also exposed to unhygienic
conditions, food insecurity and malnutrition. Overall, the health of the urban poor is
worse than that of their rural counterparts. The grievousness of the situation can be
anticipated from the fact that almost 22.6% of the total urban population of India
lives in slums (Census of India, 2001). Thus, the established practices for planning
and development in cities often lead to an accumulation of inequality, margin-
alization and disaster risk over time (Pelling, 2007).

Environmental displacement and implications for urban quality of life

The results of climate change such as heavy rainfall, heat waves, oods, storms, res,
droughts, etc. (Rosenzweig et al., 2007), are also likely to bring about a large-scale
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environmental migration of the population. Climate change may force the increase
of ruralurban migration by catalyzing the ongoing agrarian crisis in rural India
(Revi, 2008). The possible urban migration resulting from the rising vulnerabilities of
the mega-cities and towards a lower order of urban regions could have even greater
impacts on provision of infrastructures and services. The life expectancy of the
migrating mega-city population would be much higher than that of the receiving
lower order urban region. The population of migrants will be subjected to greater
risks not just resulting from their displacement but also from the new urban
environments that are already under stress. The quality of life that could be oered
to the displaced population in the new urban environments would be the result of the

Figure 3. Urbanization, displacement and disaster risk.

 International Journal of Urban Sciences 7

issues existing in the urban areas rather than the actual requirements of the displaced
population. Thus, the urban risks compounded by risks from infrastructure failures,
environmental hazards, and rising poor and vulnerable populations can jeopardize
the safety of cities.

Understanding quality of life and disaster resiliency

The concept of safety and security in quality of life
The urban locations are dynamic in nature and are under constant transformations
in terms of their physical, environmental, economic and social compositions. This
implies that the QoL at any particular urban location is never constant and that
changes in the composition of the various factors described above results in changes
in QoL. The concept of safety and security basically arises from this uncertainty of
inter- as well as intra-relationships between the components of the natural and
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human environments. The adverse and undesirable conditions for the survival and
continuation of the components of the human environments are usually projected as
the concerns for safety and security in the estimation of QoL.
Such conditions could be manifested through an extreme event or a series of non-
extreme events caused either as part of the interactions between the components or
as an external event or events catalyzed by the external event. Social safety includes
the following: crime rate, physical safety in terms of trac accidents, and health
problems. These problems arise as a result of human system interactions during
natural disasters. These disasters are external events, which lead to conicts in
regions of migration and result in unfavourable conditions. In the model proposed
by Mitchell (2000), administration of justice, access to housing, and personal
economic security form the components of safety.

Correlating quality of life and disaster resiliency

The relationship between quality of life and resiliency under the resilience as
adaptation approach (Bahadur, Ibrahim and Tanner, 2010; Osbahr, 2007) is
explained in Figure 4. Mitigation and adaptation form the basic units of the
conventional disaster risk management process, which focus on hazard and
vulnerability reduction. Hazard reduction emphasizes the risk-causing factors and
their sources, while vulnerability reduction focuses on the elements exposed to risk
and sensitivity. While mitigation targets disaster avoidance, adaptation with an

Figure 4. Relating resiliency and QoL under Resiliency as Adaptation approach.

 8 S. Deshkar et al.

element of preparedness addresses response and recovery of the systems from the
disasters. Hence, combined, mitigation and adaptation oer an enhanced capacity to
deal with adverse conditions, absorb impacts and gain faster normalcy. This process
can be dened as resiliency of the system.
In the case of urban systems, gaining resiliency means reduced levels of socio-
economic loss with reduced investments in the recovery phase and faster
reconstruction and greater chances of growth. It also reduces the economic
imbalance by avoiding or reducing the inter-regional diversion of funds for
development. Availability of life line infrastructures, protected assets and environ-
ments combined with opportunities for growth lead to a better QoL. An improved
QoL can mobilize asset creation with enhanced economic and social capacity and in
turn inuence the adaptation and mitigation capabilities of the population. Hence,
while a disaster can have a negative impact on QoL, resiliency for disaster can
protect and maintain QoL.
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Gallopins (2006) approach denes resiliency as the capacity of a system to

recover from non-structural changes, whereas vulnerability is dened as the capacity
to preserve the structural stability of a system. In other words, vulnerability and
resiliency are not opposite terms and vulnerability reduction need not necessarily
lead to resiliency. At the same time, adaptive refers to the capability of systems or
components within systems to be resilient to disturbances (Berkes, 2007; Osbahr,
2007). Hence, for systems to prevail beyond the disturbances, enhancement of
adaptive capacity becomes important.
Figure 5 explains the approach to sustainable development by integrating
disaster resiliency and QoL based on the discussion above. Considering QoL as the
sum measurement of the conditions of liveability at a particular instance, with safety
as one of its components, vulnerability reduction can sustain QoL only under the
prevailing condition. However, for enhancing and maintaining QoL under changing

Figure 5. Integrating resiliency and QoL for sustainable development.

 International Journal of Urban Sciences 9

environmental conditions, along with vulnerability reduction, the adaptive capacities

of the population and urban areas need to be considered. For sustainable
development solutions, approaches based on QoL estimation need to be combined
with disaster resiliency. At the same time, resilient developments alone cannot pave
the way for sustainable habitats unless the elements of life satisfaction and quality of
environments are considered. This implies that, in the estimation process, the
parameters dening QoL need to be orientated with an approach to resiliency and
the elements of resiliency should relate to the QoL aspects.

Estimating quality of life and disaster resiliency

Estimation approaches for quality of life
There have been numerous approaches to evaluating QoL depending on the context
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and the subject eld. The Urban Audit, a programme of the European Union with
EUROSTAT (European Statistics), applies the perception survey of the community
to dene QoL. Senlier, Yildiz and Aktas (2008) used the perception survey to dene
the QoL index for the city of Kocaeli in Turkey. Lot and Solaimani (2009) created a
framework using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) for objective measurement
of urban QoL in comparison to northern cities of Iran.
The most commonly used expression for evaluating the index of QoL in various
studies can be dened as follows:

h wa

where h is the quality of life of an area, a is the vector describing amenities in that
area and w is the vector of weights. While applying the hedonic equilibrium
approach to QoL for ranking or urban areas, Giannias (1988) elaborated the
equation as:

h e0 c e1 ct1 e2 ct2 e3 ct3

where h is the quality of life, t is the vector of housing and neighbourhood

characteristics, c is the vector of city-wide amenities and ei is the function of c.
Addressing population ageing and decline in Japanese cities, Kachi et al. (2005)
applied the Livability Maximizing Approach for dening areas requiring planned
retreat and planned re-concentration in the city of Iida in Japan. Accessibility,
amenity, safety and security were dened as the components of life prospects (LP)
and the product of weight of individual preference (w) and LP, that is, livability,
were dened as the QoL:

QoL wAC h; t ACl; t wAM h; t AMl; t wH h; t Hl; t 1

where AC (l;t) is the accessibility in zone l at time t, AM (l;t) is the amenity in zone l
at time t, H (l;t) is the hazard in zone l at time t, wAC(h;t) is the accessibility weight of
individual h at time t, wAM(h;t) is the amenity weight of individual h at time t and
wH(h;t) is the hazard weight of individual h at time t.
 10 S. Deshkar et al.

It was anticipated that accessibility gives the residents opportunities to

participate in various activities at dierent locations, while amenities inuence
living comfort. A similar approach was adopted by Togawa et al. (2009) in order to
understand housing location choice and to study the inuence of large-scale retail
stores on QoL in urban areas of Japan. The concept of life prospects was utilized in
another study, by Bhandari et al. (2007), for determining the accessibility index in
the estimation of economy and equity of urban metro transport in Delhi, India.

Estimation approaches for disaster resiliency

The evaluation of resiliency seems to have taken shape from the fundamentals of risk
management explained through various studies. The Risk Management Index (RMI)
was dened as the average of the four composite indicators, which are: perception of
risk, reduction and mitigation, response and recovery, governance and nancial
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protection (Carreno, Cardona and Barbat 2005). Mayunga (2007) proposed a

capital-based approach for understanding community resiliency and developed the
Community Disaster Resiliency Index (CDRi) by integrating the domains of capital:
social, economic, human, physical and natural capital. This approach was also
adopted by Bam et al. (2009) for developing policies to orientate the city managers
and practitioners regarding cities existing and future risk for climate-related
disasters. A weighted mean index (WMI) method, using the weights assigned by the
city ocials, was applied to evaluate selected domains of resiliency and the aggregate
weight mean index of all domains represents the CDRi. However, the evaluation
method of disaster resiliency evolved by Simpson (2006) considered resiliency to be a
function of a communitys preparedness in relation to its relative exposure to a
unique set of hazards in that community:

DisasterResiliencyIndex PreparednessIndex=Vulnerability or
DRi Pi=V 2

Where DRi 4 1, the community is more resilient; where DRi 5 1, the community is
less resilient.
The preparedness index is dened as:

Pix w1FM1 w2FM2 . . . wnFMn

where Pi is community preparedness (P) index, x is location of community, wn is

weight for a given measure, FMn is functional measure/indicator and n is number of
measures. Vulnerability was thus estimated as:

Vx Hapafa Hbpbfb . . .  w1VM1 w2VM2 . . . wnVMn

where V is community vulnerability, x is location of community, Ha,b,c . . . . is

hazard agent (earthquake, hurricane, etc.), f is frequency of hazard, p is probability
of hazard, w is weight, VM is vulnerability measure/indicator and n is number of
measures.
 International Journal of Urban Sciences 11

Estimation of the proposed QoL with disaster resiliency index

Equations (1) and (2) form the foundation for dening the integrated estimation of
QoL and disaster resiliency. However, as pointed out in the earlier section, merely
adding the parameters of resiliency to QoL would not reect the integration of two
indices. It would essentially need to inter-link and re-orientate the parameters
selected from the primary objective in dening the resiliency. The elements of QoL
dened in equation (1) include accessibility and amenities, which are signicant
factors since they contribute to the denition of preparedness and vulnerabilities of a
community or a place. Proximity to life support services and the availability of basic
commodities for survival during adverse hours are integral components of disaster
resiliency. Total preparedness is supported by better accessibility and ecient
amenities. Considering these approaches, the index of quality of life with disaster
resiliency can be consolidated as:
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P
wAC AC wAM AM wP P
QoLDR 3
V

where wAC is the weight of accessibility AC, wAM is the weight of amenity AM, wP is
the weight of measure of preparedness P and V is measure of vulnerability.
The components of QoLDR and their indicators are explained in Table 1. The
QoLDR expands on the signicance of accessibility and amenity, which are adopted
from the denition of QoL in disaster resiliency. The urban system and communitys
ability to bounce back primarily depends on the physical response and recovery
mechanisms for which transportation becomes a backbone. Access to safety and
services are the basic components for the response to adverse situations.

Table 1. Components of QoLDR.

Component Detail of component Indicator

AC: Accessibility Rescue Time from emergency services
Transit place Time to safer open space
Health and care Time to hospital
Food supply Time to retail market
AM: Amenity Water supply Duration of municipal water supply
per day
Electric supply Duration of metered electric supply
per day
Garbage disposal Frequency of garbage collection
Sewerage and drainage Time for water run-o from property
P: Preparedness Mobility Time for evacuation
Communication network Number of hours of network
availability
Water storage Provision for number of days
Alternative electricity supply Number of hours of supply
availability
V: Vulnerability Flood Frequency of ood
Water scarcity Frequency of water scarcity
Physical safety Distance from hazardous land use
Fire Frequency of re hazards
 12 S. Deshkar et al.

Amenities reveal the gaps in augmentation of basic services and the risks arising
from such a situation. The study considers water-related adversities water scarcity
and ooding for which the indicators of amenity reect the capacities of water
supply and drainage networks. The criticality of the communication networks at all
stages of disaster management is observed in various studies. In QoLDR, it acts as a
parameter of amenity. Observations can also be made linking parameters of amenity
with those of preparedness. It gives an appraisal of the capacity of the community to
compensate for the existing gap in service provisions and for sustenance during the
critical hours after the disaster. In the present study, the component of vulnerability
considers the natural vulnerabilities as well as those emerging from the urbanization
processes together. The social vulnerabilities such as crime, which are part of the
QoL estimation, are not considered here as a result of their complex nature. It is also
dicult to dene crime in the disaster management context as the occurrence and
nature of such social conditions are situational and dynamic.
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Application of QoL with disaster resiliency index

The primary output of the QoLDR is the assessment and identication of disaster
resiliency levels of various parts of the cities and urban areas (Table 2). It oers the
integration of resiliency issues arising from the urbanization process as well as natural
hazards. Enhancing the resiliency of the urban areas for the emerging hazard scenarios
will need not only improvement of the capacities of infrastructures and populations but
also reorientation of the ideas of urbanization. The integrated approach of quality of
life and disaster resiliency provides directions for altering urbanization, as well as
making it adaptive in order to eectively dene resilient urbanization. Also, the
indicators selected in this study are derived from the community resilience perspective.
The earlier studies in developing countries considered the position of the local
authorities. However, many studies have highlighted the gaps between administrative
records and the factual scenarios in developing countries. Hence, QoLDR applications
can generate a realistic understanding of resiliency by considering the local population
and its interaction with the spatial environment. The study can be further extended by
considering the population characteristics and resiliency levels, which will be useful in
framing socially-orientated programmes for risk management.
It is commonly observed that poor and marginalized populations are more vulnerable
to disasters (Revi, 2008). The ruralurban migrations have been an inevitable
phenomenon in the urbanization process, with which growth of slums in cities and the

Table 2. Components of QoLDR and their outcomes.

COMPONENTS DIRECTIONS OUTCOMES

Accessibility Land use and transportation Areas requiring physical
assessments restructuring and land use
modications
Amenity Spatial distribution and Areas for supply augmentation
infrastructure capacity and carrying capacity
assessment improvement
Preparedness Assessment of community Socio-economic and spatial
preparedness policies for asset management
Vulnerability Identication of hazard prone Hazard mapping and spatial
areas planning strategies
 International Journal of Urban Sciences 13

rise of the urban poor are often related. A comparative analysis of rural settlements and
urban slums can be conducted using the QoLDR index. The comparison can identify the
gaps between expected and actual QoL, as well as the resiliency of the migrated
population. This can help dene the policies to be adopted for poor inclusive urban
development and also broader guidelines for integrated regional development.
Densely populated urban core areas and dilapidated housing have been the
common features of many mega-cities in developing countries, and urban renewal
has been the main policy feature for urban development of such cities. However,
disaster resiliency has not been the focus of such policies. The QoLDR estimation
can provide guidelines for integrating the resiliency of the housing up-gradation
projects of mega-cities in developing countries.

Conclusion
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Understanding the complexities of resilient cities has been a priority in developing

countries in recent years. Various approaches and elements are dened for managing
the adverse situations arising from climate change and natural disasters. Since
current urbanization paths and climate change both act as sources of risk generation
in urban locations, through evaluating the resiliency of the urban community, this
study proposes to integrate the indices of quality of life and disaster resiliency. The
Quality of Life with Disaster Resiliency (QoLDR) identies the factors necessary for
realizing resilient urbanization. The study indicates that the concepts of QoL and
resiliency are closely linked and overlap at times. Disaster resiliency implicitly refers
to intergenerational capacity, while quality of life does not or only does so when it
refers to sustainability. The indices of QoL and disaster resiliency are considered
independently in previous studies to evaluate the characteristics of urban areas.
However, the integration of two indices oers the understanding of the interrelation-
ship of development processes, life prospects and the results of vulnerabilities.

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