It encompasses papers investigating human habitats in a variety of settlement structures within several natural settings that are affected by negative impacts of extreme weather events, natural hazards, infectious diseases, contaminations, or crime. Further, it provides empirical case studies describing ways to strengthen environmentally-sound behavior and how people behave in very specific living conditions, e.g. in post-disaster settlements. The focus of the book is on the necessity of studying vulnerability, risks, and complexity as expressions of the major impacts of global change on human habitats. These include not only climate and hazard impacts but also new socio-demographic trends and regional economic developments influencing people's quality of life and their capacities to cope with global change. The book will be useful to scholars in cross-cutting areas of urban, hazard, planning, governance and sustainability research in strong relation to socio-psychological perspectives. The readers benefit from new theoretical as well as empirically based research findings in the emerging field of social-science vulnerability studies.
The contributions cover six broad research fields: Reflections on vulnerability and risk in complex environments Coping with climate change and natural hazards Social dimensions of vulnerability and risks Participation and strategies of risk reduction Strengthening pro-environmental behaviour Place making and urban design