International Conference on Building Resilience

Citation

(2011), "International Conference on Building Resilience", International Journal of Disaster Resilience in the Built Environment, Vol. 2 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijdrbe.2011.43502aab.002

International Conference on Building Resilience

Article Type: News items From: International Journal of Disaster Resilience in the Built Environment, Volume 2, Issue 1

Interdisciplinary approaches to disaster risk reduction, and the development of sustainable communities and citiesHeritance Kandalama, Sri Lanka, 20-22 July 2011, www.buildresilience.org

With growing population and infrastructures, the world’s exposure to hazards – of natural and man-made origin – is inevitably increasing. This reality reinforces the need to proactively consider disaster risk as a part of the sustainable development agenda. The International Conference on Building Resilience will encourage debate on individual, institutional and societal coping strategies to address the challenges associated with disaster risk. Central to these strategies is the concept of resilience, which is becoming a core concept in the social and physical sciences, and also in matters of public policy. Resilience refers to the capability and capacity of systems to withstand change. By encouraging participation from researchers in the social and physical sciences, the conference will explore inter-disciplinary strategies that develop the capacity of a system, community or society potentially exposed to disaster-related hazards, to adapt, by resisting or changing, in order to reach and maintain an acceptable level of functioning and structure. Contributions are welcome from members of the research community that address disaster risk and the need to develop resilience from diverse disciplinary perspectives.

The conference outcomes will be used to support the 2010-2011 World Disaster Reduction Campaign “Making Cities Resilient”, which addresses issues of local governance and urban risk while drawing upon previous ISDR Campaigns on safer schools and hospitals, as well as on the sustainable urbanizations principles developed in the UN-Habitat World Urban Campaign 2009-2013. Mayors and their local governments are both the key targets and drivers of the campaign. The overall target of the campaign is to get as many local governments ready as possible, to span a global network of fully engaged cities of different sizes, characteristics, risk profiles and locations. The campaign is focusing on raising political commitment to disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation among local governments and mayors; including through high-profile media and public awareness activities, and will develop specific technical tools that cater for capacity-development opportunities.

This is also the Annual International Conference of the International Institute for Infrastructure, Renewal and Reconstruction (IIIRR), which is a multi-university international consortium which provides overall leadership in research, education, planning, design and implementation for mitigation of the impact of natural disasters and infrastructure renewal and reconstruction projects in tsunami-affected or underdeveloped regions.

Venue

The conference will be held in Dambulla, Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka has been subject to several large-scale disasters in recent years, including the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami and a civil war spanning several decades. As such, it provides an ideal setting to explore the challenge of creating resilient communities and cities.

The conference will be held at the Heritance Kandalama Hotel. Occupying a most unique site in the cultural triangle’s heartland the Geoffrey Bawa-designed hotel is flanked by two UNESCO world heritage sites – the first century bc Dambulla rock temple and the fifth century ad Sigiriya rock fortress.

Organisers

The International Conference on Building Resilience is being organised by the Centre for Disaster Resilience, School of the Built Environment, University of Salford and RMIT University, Australia. It be held in association with the IIIRR and in support of the UNISDR’s 2010-2011 World Disaster Reduction Campaign “Making Cities Resilient”.

The local hosts for the conference are the University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka, the University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka, and Chamber of Construction Sri Lanka.

Further information

For abstract submission details, a list of conference themes, and further information about the conference, see the conference web site: www.buildresilience.org